The UK will recognise the state of Palestine in September unless the Israeli government takes steps to end the “appalling situation” in Gaza, Sir Keir Starmer has told the Cabinet.
The Prime Minister said the declaration would be made before the UN General Assembly as he set out a series of other conditions for Israel to take if it wants to avoid the UK joining other countries in recognising a Palestinian state.
A readout of the Cabinet meeting issued by Downing Street said Sir Keir told ministers “now was the right time to move this position” on the two-state solution.
In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Sir Keir of appeasing “jihadist terrorists”. In a statement on social media site X, Mr Netanyahu said: “Starmer rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism and punishes its victims.
“A jihadist state on Israel’s border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW.
“Appeasement towards jihadist terrorists always fails. It will fail you too. It will not happen.”
In a readout from an emergency Cabinet meeting, No10 said: “The Prime Minister opened by saying that he had called the meeting to address the situation in Gaza which was getting more desperate by the day.
“He said the recent images of starvation had deeply affected the British public and underscored the increasingly intolerable situation.
“He said the Government had always been clear that the terrorist attacks of October 7th were an outrage and that Hamas is a terrorist organisation who continue to hold hostages in terrible conditions.”
The Prime Minister was clear that an immediate ceasefire in Gaza remains the overwhelming priority, Downing Street added.
“Turning to recognition, the Prime Minister said it had been this Government’s longstanding position that recognition of a Palestinian state was an inalienable right of the Palestinian people and that we would recognise a Palestinian state as part of a process to peace and a Two State solution,” the statement added.
“He said that because of the increasingly intolerable situation in Gaza and the diminishing prospect of a peace process towards a Two State Solution, now was the right time to move this position forward.
“He said that the UK will recognise the state of Palestine in September, before UNGA, unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, reaches a ceasefire, makes clear there will be no annexation in the West Bank, and commits to a long-term peace process that delivers a Two State Solution.”
It continued: “He reiterated that there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas and that our demands on Hamas remain, that they must release all the hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, accept that they will play no role in the government of Gaza, and disarm.”
Sir Keir had spoken directly with Mr Netanyahu on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the cabinet meeting, pressing him to “take immediate action to lift all restrictions on aid access” in Gaza.
A Downing Street spokeswoman explained: “He said that the situation in Gaza was intolerable and that the need for humanitarian access is now more pressing than ever before.
“He urged the prime minister (Mr Netanyahu) to take immediate action to lift all restrictions on aid access and get those suffering in Gaza the food they need.
“In this context, he shared his intention to chair a Cabinet meeting today to discuss next steps to alleviate the humanitarian situation, to secure the release of all remaining hostages, to develop with allies a long-term political settlement for the region, and to consider next steps on the recognition of Palestine.”
The Prime Minister was under growing pressure from several Cabinet ministers and dozens of Labour MPs to move decisively towards recognising a Palestinian state amid the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza and after Emmanuel Macron said France would do so in September.
Speaking from Downing Street’s state dining room, Sir Keir then told reporters that the Government will “make an assessment in September on how far the parties have met these steps”.
Sir Keir Starmer said “no one should have a veto over our decision”, as he called for the Israeli government to take substantive steps to end the “appalling situation in Gaza”.
The Prime Minister made clear that Israel should allow the United Nations to restart the supply of aid and called for there to be no annexations in the West Bank.
Sir Keir Starmer added that he had discussed the suffering in Gaza with Donald Trump, as he pledged to mount a “major effort to get humanitarian supplies back in”.
The Prime Minister said in his statement: “The Palestinian people have endured terrible suffering now in Gaza because of a catastrophic failure of aid.
“We see starving babies, children too weak to stand, images that will stay with us for a lifetime. The suffering must end.
“Yesterday, I discussed this with President Trump, and we’re mounting a major effort to get humanitarian supplies back in by air – and UK aid has been air-dropped into Gaza today – and, crucially, by land.”
Sir Keir added that the Government’s decision was made in part because of “the concern that the very possibility of a two-state solution is reducing”.
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the United Nations in New York that the UK bears a “special burden of responsibility” to support the two-state solution as he announced the UK’s plan to recognise Palestinian statehood.
“The situation on the ground continues to worsen and the two-state solution is in peril,” he told a United Nations conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He continued: “The Netanyahu government’s rejection of a two-state solution is wrong; it’s wrong morally; and it’s wrong strategically.
“It harms the interests of the Israeli people, closing off the only path to a just and lasting peace, and that is why we are determined to protect the viability of a two-state solution.
“And so it is with the hand of history on our shoulders that His Majesty’s Government therefore intends to recognise the state of Palestine when the UN General Assembly gathers in September here in New York.”
Mr Lammy later told reporters the global community is “deeply offended by children being shot and killed as they reach out for aid” as he called for a ceasefire.
“Over the next eight weeks, what we are attempting to do is affect the situation on the ground,” he explained, before calling for Hamas to release the remaining Israeli hostages and for the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza to end.
The Foreign Secretary also confirmed that the UK and Jordan have air-dropped 20 tonnes of aid to Gaza in recent days, explaining that up to 35 trucks with supplies had managed to get in to Gaza on Sunday.
He added: “Just in this last period, we have delivered 20 tonnes of aid with our Jordanian friends into northern Gaza in terms of air drops to alleviate the suffering and obviously to ensure that those air drops landed safely in a clear path.
“But that will not ease the suffering that we are seeing, the malnourishment that now is widespread, and the fear of starvation that is a global concern.
“And so the United Kingdom working with partners, and you’ve seen us working with our Arab partners, but obviously working alongside France and Saudi Arabia today, we are all attempting to bring an end to this suffering.”
Sir Keir shared plans he is working on with France and Germany to “bring about a lasting peace” in the Middle East with Donald Trump when they met in Scotland on Monday.
The Prime Minister stressed that people in the UK were “revolted” by the TV pictures of starving children in Gaza.
The US president initially declined to say there were such levels of hunger in the strip besieged by Israel before changing his line, having seen TV images, to: “That’s real starvation stuff... and you can’t fake that.”
Amid international alarm over starvation in Gaza, Israel announced at the weekend that it would suspend fighting in three areas for 10 hours a day and open secure routes for aid delivery.
The UK confirmed it was taking part in airdrops by Jordan’s air force of aid into the territory.
Sir Keir is facing calls from a growing number of MPs to recognise a Palestinian state.
More than 250 cross-party MPs have now signed a letter calling for ministers to take the step, up from 221 on Friday.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting is among those to have signalled a desire for hastened action, calling for recognition “while there’s still a state of Palestine left to recognise”, while Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the Government wants to recognise a Palestinian state “in contribution to a peace process”.
Labour is also under pressure from the new party on the Left of British politics being formed by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who has already sanctioned two Israeli ministers, was due to address the United Nations in New York on a Palestinian state.
But the European plans are unlikely to get sufficient traction unless Trump backs them and puts pressure on Israel.
