Over 55,000 urge new UK premier to hold Israel accountable over Gaza genocide

Pro-Palestine groups on Wednesday delivered a petition signed by more than 55,000 people calling on new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham to hold Israel accountable over the genocide in Gaza, Anadolu reports.

Video footage shared on US social media company X showed Ryvka Barnard, deputy director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Sara Husseini, director of the British Palestinian Committee, and prominent British actor Juliet Stevenson, a vocal critic of Israeli actions, handing the petition to Burnham’s office in Downing Street.

Speaking in the video, Barnard said they were calling on Burnham to uphold international law and the rights of the Palestinian people and to hold Israel to account over the genocide “that it’s been committing, that’s an ongoing genocide that it continues to commit.”

Husseini said there could be no “piecemeal approach” to occupation, apartheid and genocide.

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“So, this petition today, really is a reminder that the wider British public … will be watching really closely to see if this new government can commit to meaningful policy change that can actually deliver accountability and the painfully long overdue justice that Palestinians deserve,” she said.

For her part, Stevenson said: “We’re urging Andy Burnham and his government to shift the UK government’s position on this, because we’ve watched Keir Starmer (former prime minister) collude with it.”

Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed at least 73,470 Palestinians and injured 174,540 others since October 2023, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. Most of the victims have been women and children, while around 90% of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure has been destroyed.

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