New UK government urged to halt arms sales to Israel and restore Unrwa funding

Less than a week into the job, the UK's new Labour government is being urged to restore funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, and halt arms sales to Israel immediately.

In two separate letters, six rights groups and an MP have pushed for action on two issues that sparked fierce parliamentary debate and public outcry ahead of the election.

While Labour won a comfortable victory in the general election last week, senior party figures have acknowledged that its stance on Gaza cost the party seats, putting pressure on Labour to be seen to take action.

On Sunday, in one of his first conversations with a foreign leader, Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu there was a "clear and urgent need for a ceasefire".

But in their letter, the six NGOs, including two that launched a legal challenge to stop UK arms exports to Israel in the High Court last year, say that call was not enough, "in particular when the UK is arming one party to the conflict".

Read more: New UK government urged to halt arms sales to Israel and restore Unrwa funding