Karen has joined many other MPs expressing their concerns about the increasingly worrying situation in Gaza:

That this House expresses its revulsion at the mounting death toll in Gaza caused by Israeli military strikes; notes that around half of the 108 Palestinians killed in the six days between Wednesday 27th February and Monday 3rd March 2008 were civilians; also condemns the rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza which have killed one Israeli civilian in southern Israel in the last nine months and which, according to figures supplied by the British Israel Communications and Research Centre, have been responsible for the deaths of 24 Israelis since 2001; further notes that Israel’s military strikes and its economic blockade of Gaza are achieving the opposite of their stated aim of deterring such rocket attacks; further notes that the strikes and blockade are causing widespread humanitarian suffering and, by collectively punishing the entire people of Gaza for the actions of those firing rockets, Israel’s actions are contrary to international law; further notes the UN Security Council statement of 2nd March, and the statements from the United Kingdom Foreign Secretary and the EU Presidency dated 2nd March and 3rd March respectively; and therefore calls upon the international community to press for an immediate ceasefire in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank and adherence to international law by all parties, including requiring Israel to abide by its legal obligations as an internationally recognised state, and emphasises the United Kingdom’s particular responsibility to ensure international compliance with humanitarian law as a High Contracting Party to the Fourth Geneva Convention.