TEN rebel ex-Labour Pendle councillors have written to the Prime Minister calling for a ban on arms sales to Israel.

The group - which includes current council leader Cllr Asjad Mahmood and his predecessor as Labour group boss Cllr Mohammed Iqbal - sent the letter to Rishi Sunak following the death of seven aid workers in Gaza including three Britons.

They quit Labour at the beginning of the month accusing the party leadership of using "aggressive bullying tactics to suppress fairness and free speech", especially in respect of the Israel/Hamas conflict.

Their letter was also sent to Pendle Conservative MP and health minister Andrew Stephenson.

It says: "We, along with many of constituents, share the anger at the deliberate killing of seven aid workers in Gaza this week by the Israeli Defence Force.

"As our Prime Minister, we demand you immediately ban the sale of any military hardware to Benjamin Netanyahu and his government.

"How can you possibly justify British weapons be used to kill innocent Palestinians and aid workers who are desperately trying to avert a man-made famine created by the government of Israel?

"It is also the case that the Israeli government has broken international laws by the deliberate killing of over 33,000 Palestinians, most of whom are innocent men, women and children.

"You need to act as our Prime Minister and not an accomplice of Benjamin Netanyahu."

Cllr Mahmood said: "It has taken the assassination of seven aid workers including British citizens by the IDF for world leaders to express their anger at the Israeli government for their actions since October 2023.

"I am angry that still our government is not halting sales of weapons used to kill over 33,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom were peaceful people."

Cllr Iqbal said: "Our country has always stood up to the protection of international law, but it saddens me that our current Prime Minister is silent in the face of so many innocent people being killed by the IDF and survivors facing mass starvation."

Mr Stephenson said: "We now know that far from being principled resignations over policy that Pendle’s Labour councillors quit following an investigation by the Labour Party into some of the material posted by some of them on social media.

"Issuing press releases like this to try and make it sound like their resignations were principled is laughable.

"We now know that the local Labour Party is deeply divided and riddled with anti-Semitism.

"I’d urge Sir Keir Starmer to suspend the local party and root out the remaining bad apples."

A government spokesman said: “As part of the government's robust arms export control regime we periodically review advice on Israel’s commitment to International Humanitarian Law, and ministers act in accordance with that advice.”