Cambridge City Council has become the first in the United Kingdom (UK) to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza Strip and an end to arms sales to Israel.
The local authority for the Labour-majority city of Cambridge unanimously passed a motion urging the UK government to pressure Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza, to revoke licenses for arms exports to Israel, and halting arms sales to it.
The council has pledged to scrutinize the consequences of halting banking with Barclays, a bank with a history of investments in companies supplying arms and military technology to Israel.
In a statement, Labour councilor Alice Gilderdale said the city council has waited “too long” in bringing a motion on the war in Gaza, adding they cannot “continue to watch the horrors in Gaza without speaking out.”
On Sunday, May 12, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, for the first time called for a halt in arms shipments to the Tel Aviv regime.
On Monday, May 6, some 100 students protested outside King’s College, Cambridge, demanding the university divest from firms involved in Israel’s Gaza war.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed over 35,900 people, mostly women and children, in Gaza, primarily after Operation Al-Aqsa Storm by Hamas, resulting in over 80,200 injuries.
