Opposition leader’s comments come before a Parliament debate on a motion urging an immediate truce in Gaza.
British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer has said a ceasefire that lasts “must happen now” between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The opposition leader’s comments, at a Scottish Labour Party conference in Glasgow, came on Sunday as he faces renewed pressure to back an “immediate ceasefire” in a conflict that has killed about 29,000 Palestinians.
Starmer has previously refused to back that call, saying instead that he wanted a “sustainable” end to the conflict.
The issue has caused divisions in the Labour Party, with nearly a third of its legislators defying Starmer last year to support calls for an immediate truce.
“I have just returned from the Munich security conference, where every conversation I had came back to the situation in Israel and Gaza and the question of what we can do practically to deliver what we all want to see – a return of all the hostages taken on 7 October, an end to the killing of innocent Palestinians, a huge scaling-up of humanitarian relief and an end to the fighting,” Starmer said.
“What we all want to see … [is] an end to the fighting not just now, not just for a pause, but permanently. A ceasefire that lasts … that is what must happen now.”
He added that any ceasefire could not be one-sided and warned Israel against launching its planned offensive in the city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have sought refuge.
Starmer’s comments come before a Scottish National Party (SNP)-led vote in the British Parliament on a motion urging an immediate ceasefire.
The Scottish Labour conference on Saturday also voted in favour of backing an immediate truce, with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar saying in a post on X that he was “proud” the conference had passed the motion.
