MP whose family escaped Gaza left asking: ‘What on Earth was it all for?’

An MP whose “exhausted and traumatised” family escaped Gaza has said she found it “impossible” to be happy with a ceasefire in the Middle East.

Layla Moran said she wanted to “feel happy” after a break in the fighting, but had been left asking the question: “What on Earth was it all for?”

Ms Moran revealed on X last year that her family fled the conflict in Gaza.

She asked Sir Keir Starmer to give his “personal attention” to making the Palestinian state “a reality”, as the Prime Minister took questions about the ceasefire deal brokered by US president Donald Trump.

Sir Keir was at a peace summit in Sharm El Sheikh earlier this week, where he met Mr Trump and negotiators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey as they signed off on the Gaza peace deal.

Taking questions in Parliament on Tuesday, the Prime Minister said: “We have the chance, and it is a chance, to bring a terrible chapter in history, finally, to a close.

“It’s a moment of profound relief for this House, for this nation, indeed for the whole world.”

Ms Moran told the Commons: “I want to feel happy this week, but I find it impossible, because with so much destruction and so much devastation and so many lives lost, you look back over the last two years and you ask the question: ‘What on earth was it all for?’

“But history teaches us that from the depths of that despair can often launch a positive future, and there is only one way to achieve the everlasting peace that President Trump so rightly talks about, and that is that two-state solution – Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in dignity and security.”

The Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon asked whether the Prime Minister would “make the Palestinian state a reality”, which she said would be “finally” making good on a promise made to her great-grandfather.

She continued: “And will he give it his personal attention over the course of his premiership, so that this is the last time we see this devastation, not the repeat of that ever-cycle of violence that we have always seen in the past?”

Sir Keir replied: “We must, from the depths of that despair, build a better future.”

He added: “I give my personal commitment that we will work tirelessly to ensure that this time we build on the signing of the agreement yesterday, through all the work that’s going to have to be done along the way, until we get to that final, lasting solution, which will have to be a two-state solution.”

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel in the 2023 attack, killing 1,200.

In Israel’s ensuing offensive, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and nearly 170,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half the deaths were women and children.

Labour MP Andy McDonald referred to the White House’s 20-point plan, which demanded that “if both sides agree to this proposal, the war will immediately end”.

It also demanded that Hamas ends its rule over Gaza, that Israel “will not occupy or annex Gaza”, and that all Israeli hostages taken captive during Hamas’s October 7 attack are released.

The Middlesbrough and Thornaby East MP said he welcomed the deal but asked whether Sir Keir shared his “concern that the 20-point plan is without Palestinian input”.

Mr McDonald asked: “Will he acknowledge the need for Palestinian self-determination, their consent for any governance or stabilisation arrangements?

“Will he ensure the continued pursuit of war criminals, and will he work to achieve an end to Israel’s illegal occupation of all Palestinian territories and the full engagement of a sovereign Palestinian state?”

Sir Keir said that the plan was “widely and warmly received by so many countries” and urged MPs to “now focus on implementing it rather than trying to unpick it”.

The Prime Minister also faced questions about fears a “genocide” has taken place in the region.

Independent MP for Blackburn Adnan Hussain claimed there was an “overwhelming international consensus” that “Israel’s actions in Gaza were genocidal”.

He asked whether Sir Keir agreed that the “perpetrators of genocide must face justice”.

Sir Keir replied: “I agree that accountability is important. Of course, justice is important in the Middle East.

“And we are strong supporters of international law and the role that that needs to play in relation to justice in the region.”