CRACKS could again be exposed in the Labour Party as the SNP consider forcing another vote on calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The National understands the party may use a scheduled opposition day debate in the Commons later this month to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
It would increase the potential for further divisions within Labour over the conflict.
A previous vote on the matter, also brought forward by the SNP, last year saw 10 frontbenchers resign to back calls for a ceasefire. In total, 56 Labour MPs defied a three-line whip and voted with the SNP.
An SNP MP told The National the party were considering a repeat of the November vote and said it would “not take a rocket scientist” to conclude the party was considering that option.
READ MORE: Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu rejects Hamas ceasefire demands
But they stressed “a lot can change” and that the crisis in the Middle East was fast-changing. The party’s next opposition day debate is scheduled for Wednesday, February 21.
The most high-profile MP to defy Keir Starmer on a ceasefire was Jess Phillips (above), who quit her role as shadow minister for domestic violence, to back the SNP motion.
The last vote came before Starmer began calling for a “sustainable ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas. It also preceded a temporary ceasefire between the two sides which lasted for a week at the end of November 2023.
SNP MP John Nicolson said forcing a vote would not be "about Labour".
He tweeted: "The [vote] should be about the UK Parliament joining the Scottish Parliament in expressing our revulsion at the bombardment of [Gaza] and the grotesque slaughter taking place there.
"We should together be demanding a [Gaza ceasefire now]."
This week, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Hamas’s conditions for a ceasefire, which included a hostages-for-prisoners exchange, mirroring the conditions of the temporary ceasefire last year.
Netanyahu on Friday ordered Israel’s military to prepare for evacuating Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip ahead of an expected invasion.
Israel says Rafah is the last remaining Hamas stronghold and it needs to send in troops to complete its war plan against the Islamic militant group.
But an estimated 1.5 million Palestinians have crammed into the town after fleeing fighting elsewhere in Gaza.
So far the conflict has seen more than 27,500 Palestinians killed after Hamas’s attacks on Israel on October 7, which saw more than 1200 Israelis killed.
Labour were approached for comment.
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