Mosques in Preston have asked local Labour councillors to call for the resignation of Sir Keir Starmar.

In statement released on Tuesday the mosques said they had been left with ‘no option’ following the 'silence' from the party leadership.

A message read: “The mosques of Preston can no longer tolerate the continued silence of our leaders to the genocide and human rights abuses that we are witnessing every day from Gaza and the occupied West Bank in Palestine.

“As such we are left with no option but to take unprecedented measures to ensure that we get an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.

“We, the mosques of Preston in Lancashire demand that all our local Labour councillors commit to signing a joint letter calling for the immediate resignation of the Labour leader Keir Starmar."

The statement was signed by all the mosques.

Pressure has grown on Labour councillors to themselves resign. Many Muslims have focussed their energies on their local representatives most of whom happen to be Labour politicians.

It appears few mention the Conservative government with many Muslims resigned to the fact there will be no condemnation coming from the ruling party.

A month of relentless bombardment in Gaza has killed more than 10,500 Palestinians – two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory. More than 2,300 are believed to have been buried by strikes that in some cases have demolished entire city blocks.

More than 70% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have already left their homes.

The G7 nations called for the “unimpeded” delivery of food, water, medicine and fuel, and for “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting.

More than 160 Palestinians have also been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.