Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely has shed some light on his decision to vote against a ceasefire in Gaza on Wednesday.

MPs in Parliament rejected the SNP’s King’s Speech amendment calling for “all parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire” in Gaza – 293 to 125; a majority of 168.

Bob Seely was among those to reject the request for a ceasefire.

“I understand the very obvious concerns,” said Mr Seely.

“Thousands of civilians have been killed on both sides. 

“I believe a ceasefire will allow the Hamas terror group to reorganise to kill more people and to take more human shields.

“Hamas has said that it will try to repeat its massacre of Israelis.

“A ceasefire will result in more civilian casualties, not less, and will prolong the suffering.

“The Parliamentary vote was virtue signalling that shows no understanding of the problem. It was designed to cause the Labour Party to split, as it did.

“I do support the Government committing more aid to Gaza, and in private pressing the Israeli Government to be mindful of civilian casualties and to ensure that the use of force is proportionate under international humanitarian laws and the laws of war.”

A total of 56 Labour MPs backed the position, rejecting their party leader’s stance.

Four shadow ministers, including Jess Phillips, Yasmin Qureshi, Afzal Khan and Paula Barker, quit on Wednesday evening.

Rachel Hopkins, Sarah Owen, Naz Shah and Andy Slaughter also left frontbench positions.

The Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has argued that a ceasefire would not be appropriate because it would freeze the conflict and embolden Hamas, BBC News reports.

Labour, like the Conservative government, the United States and the European Union, is calling for "humanitarian pauses" to help aid reach Gaza.

Compared with a formal ceasefire, these pauses tend to last for short periods of time, sometimes just a few hours.

They are implemented with the aim of providing humanitarian support only, as opposed to achieving long-term political solutions.