New British PM refuses to designate Israel’s war with Gaza as 'genocide'

A group of 80 British Members of Parliament and the House of Lords sent a joint letter to the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, last Thursday, requesting that he should label the war with Gaza as a genocide and impose sanctions on Israel. However, he has reportedly refused to comply with the letter’s demands.

The letter from Kim Johnson, MP for Liverpool Riverside, was signed by dozens of lawmakers including Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott, urging the new government to “decisively change its stance” on the war, and to recognize the findings of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry which accused Israel of genocide and of deliberately targeting children.

The letter also referred to the 2024 International Court of Justice ruling that Israel's occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem is unlawful and tantamount to apartheid.

The cross-party group said that Burnham and his cabinet should not “willfully ignore” the rulings as the previous government had done, insisting, “it would be a grave mistake to wait for court rulings before decisively acting.”

I'm one of 80 MPs & Peers calling on the PM to:

- Recognise the UN’s findings on genocide & implement the ICJ ruling in full
- Impose sanctions including a full arms embargo
- Ban trade that supports Israel’s illegal settlements

End Britain’s complicity in genocide, now. pic.twitter.com/TjtJ0yj2Qq

— Kim Johnson (@KimJohnsonMP) July 23, 2026

The initiative, led by Johnson, petitioned the government firstly to recognise the UN’s findings on genocide and to implement the ICJ ruling in full, secondly to impose sanctions including a full arms embargo, and thirdly to ban trade that supports Israel’s settlements.

According to the New Arab news outlet, Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has so far rejected the demands.

Jordanian Roya News also reported that Burnham, who took office on July 20, rejected the call to officially designate Israel’s war with Gaza as genocide or to impose comprehensive sanctions.

While the new PM had indicated a shift in policy away from Israel, saying that his party “didn’t get it right” and needs to “do better” on Gaza, an opinion piece in Al Jazeera has highlighted the fact that Burnham has been a member of Labour Friends of Israel since 2015.

The article claimed that Burnham described the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement as “spiteful,” promising that Israel would be the first country he would visit as Labour leader.

The group of MPs and peers listed in Johnson’s letter asked Burnham to uphold the rights of the Palestinian people and prevent violations of international law, expressing frustration that “no action” had been taken by the previous government under Keir Starmer.

Despite the letter’s claims, Former International Court of Justice (ICJ) President Joan Donoghue has clarified that the court had not ruled that there was a "plausible case of genocide" against Israel, but rather that Palestinians had a plausible right to be protected from genocide and that South Africa had the right to present that claim.

Responding to a similar letter last year, former British Foreign Secretary David Lammy concluded on behalf of the previous administration:

“As per the Genocide Convention, the crime of genocide occurs only where there is specific 'intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group,'” he wrote in September. “The Government has not concluded that Israel is acting with that intent.” 

“The ICJ has neither found that Israel has breached its obligations under the Genocide Convention, nor ruled on the plausibility of Israel committing genocide,” Lammy continued. “Accordingly, we do not consider that the ICJ's Provisional Measures Orders should be regarded as creating an awareness of a serious risk of genocide.” 

While there have been several reports and rulings suggesting that Israel has been guilty of serious war crimes, thorough investigation of the facts has led many in positions of responsibility to conclude that Israel is not deliberately committing genocide or killing children, even when it makes them unpopular with their electoral base.

Some 70,000 of the 2.2 million Gazan population have been killed in the war since the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, including more than 20,000 children according to Save the Children.

The death toll includes all deaths occurring in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, including those not directly linked to Israeli military actions, like natural deaths, executions of alleged traitors by Hamas, or the frequent misfires of rockets that landed in the Gaza Strip, rather than in Israel. Some 25,000 of those killed were Hamas terrorists.

While Burnham has resisted a formal designation of genocide, he has apologized for the British response to the crisis in Gaza, saying he wants to put more pressure on Israel.

"The unbearable suffering in Gaza is a scar on our collective conscience,” he said earlier this month. “It's completely unacceptable that innocent Palestinians, including children, continue to be killed.”

Labour’s initial response to the treatment of Gaza caused huge hurt. We got it wrong and I am sorry for that. pic.twitter.com/MtQxhp71J3

— Andy Burnham (@andyburnham) July 9, 2026

A spokesman for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said the department responded to Johnson’s letter and noted that Secretary Ed Miliband had “made clear that the United Kingdom will work tirelessly to achieve a sustainable peace in Palestine and Israel, including ending the appalling suffering of the people of Gaza and ensuring security for Israelis.”