In Birmingham Perry Barr, Labour’s Khalid Mahmood lost to independent Ayoub Khan by 507 votes.
Meanwhile, independent candidates who made the conflict in Gaza central to their campaign won in Dewsbury and Batley, as well as Blackburn, which both previously had healthy Labour majorities.
Other senior Labour figures in areas with large Muslim populations only narrowly held their seats after seeing their majorities eaten away.
The newly elected Labour MP for Coventry South, Zarah Sultana, said her party’s position on Gaza was a “stain on its record” and, while the party had “moved in the right direction”, it “took a long time to get there”.
David Lammy – who could be set to become Labour’s foreign secretary – told the BBC that his party would “work with partners to seek Palestinian recognition” in power.
Labour peer Ayesha Hazarika said analysts should be “slightly careful” about “lumping everyone from a Muslim background into having the same view”.
She told BBC Radio 4 that there may have been “more to it than Gaza” in some areas, with “other local community politics” at play.
In Ilford North, independent candidate Leanne Mohamad, who is the granddaughter of Palestinian refugees, was just 528 votes behind Mr Streeting.
In Birmingham Ladywood, shadow justice secretary Shabana Mahmood held off a challenge from independent candidate and lawyer Akhmed Yakoob, who has a large following on TikTok.
However, her majority fell from more than 32,000 to 3,421.
Similarly Jess Phillips, who quit the Labour frontbench to vote for a Gaza ceasefire in Parliament last year, also saw her majority slashed from 13,141 to just 693.
Jody McIntyre, who stood for Mr Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain, came second.
Ms Phillips faced shouts and booing as she gave her speech after the result, describing the campaign as “the worst election I have ever stood in” and claiming her activists had faced intimidation.
In Bethnal Green and Stepney, in east London, shadow small business minister Rushnara Ali, who was defending a majority of more than 31,000, beat independent candidate Ajmal Masroor by just 1,689 votes.
At his own count, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer faced heckles of “Free Palestine” and saw his majority cut, with pro-Gaza independent Andrew Feinsten coming second with 7,312 votes.
In Islington North, his predecessor as Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, retained his seat as an independent, after being suspended from the party over his response to a report on antisemitism in Labour.
Mr Corbyn beat the Labour candidate by more than 7,000 votes.
However, in Rochdale, Labour’s Paul Waugh ousted Workers Party leader Mr Galloway, just months after he won the seat in a by-election dominated by the Gaza conflict.
Sophie Anderson, a UK-based writer, is your guide to the latest trends, viral sensations, and internet phenomena. With a finger on the pulse of digital culture, she explores what’s trending across social media and pop culture, keeping readers in the know about the latest online sensations.
