Scottish Government to hold debate calling for ceasefire in Gaza

Motions from several parties in the chamber have already urged the Parliament to call for a ceasefire in the Middle East including the SNP, Alba and the Greens.

The Welsh Parliament passed a Plaid Cymru motion calling for an immediate end to the conflict last week and Holyrood has since come under pressure to follow suit.

MSPs will have the chance to vote on a Government motion scheduled for Tuesday which it is understood will ask the Parliament to call for a ceasefire, though the final wording will not be published until Monday.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar outlined in an interview on Wednesday that Labour MSPs will be voting for a ceasefire.

READ MORE: Humza Yousaf and STUC chief call for ceasefire in joint statement

This is despite the party’s MPs refusing to back an SNP amendment at Westminster calling for the same.

SNP MSP Kaukab Stewart (below) called for the UK Government to demand "an end to the deadly military action" in a motion she submitted last week which has attracted cross-party support.

While she is hopeful this can still be debated, she said the Government debate will provide a “different tone” to discussions.

She told The National: “I’m pleased that following my motion calling for a ceasefire gaining cross-party support among MSPs, the Scottish Government has brought forward plans to have a debate on this next week.

“While I remain hopeful my motion can still be debated at a later date, a Government motion provides a different tone and gives MSPs an opportunity to vote for or against the SNP position that there should be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Israel.

“The scale of the loss of human life is heart-breaking.  My motion specifically calls out violence on both sides; that’s important.  What we need now is dialogue and that can only come about by a ceasefire.  No temporary measure will do – the message to both sides must be: stop killing and start talking.

“The UK should reconsider its stance and align with a prevailing opinion at the UN General Assembly, advocating an urgent and immediate ceasefire in Gaza.”

Jonathan Shafi, a campaigner with the Stop the War coalition, said in a column for The National last week that “every ounce of pressure that can be brought to bear is required” as he called on the Scottish Parliament to call for a ceasefire.

He added: “It would further isolate and expose the UK leadership who offer no credible argument to oppose one.”

Although defence and foreign policy are reserved, this did not stop the Scottish Parliament passing a motion in the support of the Iraq War in 2003, and Shafi said “it is time to set a new precedent”.

READ MORE: MPs urged to back SNP King’s Speech amendment on Gaza ceasefire

Sarwar said: “We will be voting in line with the principles and the policy I have set out. I want to see a ceasefire.

The war, now in its sixth week, was triggered by Hamas’s surprise October 7 attack on Israel, in which militants massacred hundreds of civilians and took some 240 hostages back to Gaza.

Israel launched heavy air strikes for nearly three weeks before sending troops and tanks into the north.

The war has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians and wreaked widespread destruction on the impoverished coastal enclave.

Israeli forces entered Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, on Wednesday in what the military says is a “targeted” operation searching for Hamas infrastructure and weapons.

UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said he was "appalled" by the raid and that "hospitals are not battlegrounds".

A Scottish Greens spokesperson: “MSPs must take a stand against the brutal siege and the humanitarian crisis that has been inflicted on the people of Gaza.

"Every Scottish Green MSP will vote to support the calls for a ceasefire from the UN and so many others. There is a moral obligation on every MSP who cares about the rights and lives of Palestinians to show the courage of their convictions and do the same.

"There must be an end to the bombing and the establishment of proper humanitarian corridors to allow safe passage for aid and displaced people. Anything else will only prolong the terrible suffering of the two million people in Gaza.

"We hope that our Parliament will use the debate to show moral and political leadership and send a clear message of peace and solidarity, particularly at a time when Westminster and so many others are utterly failing to do so."

Alba MSP Ash Regan added: "The Alba Party leadership associate ourselves with those that seek an immediate ceasefire, justice for the Palestinian people and the provisioning and safe evacuation of Israeli hostages and civilians from a war zone.

"The international community must now dedicate all possible influence to urge Israel and Palestine to choose the path of de-escalation and ceasefire."