Keir Starmer has announced today that the UK will recognise a Palestinian state in September, unless Israel commits to a sustainable peace, and allows the UN to restart its humanitarian support to Gaza.
The announcement
The announcement was made during a statement given at 10 Downing Street following an emergency Gaza cabinet meeting. The Prime Minister said that the recognition of a Palestinian state would depend on an assessment made before the UN General Assembly meeting in September, to determine how far the Israeli government had met the required steps. Starmer also demanded an immediate ceasefire and said that a credible peace plan in the region must include the withdrawal of Israeli soldiers and the removal of Hamas leadership in Gaza.
An announcement was also made regarding additional, immediate steps to alleviate the humanitarian situation, including air drops of supplies alongside Jordan, and the evacuation of injured children in Gaza to British hospitals.
International and domestic pressure
Should the recognition come into force, the UK will join 147 other UN nations who also recognise a Palestinian state. This does not include France, who are also set to join this list in September, after President Macron became the first leader in the G7 to commit to such a recognition. Macron has placed pressure on his European allies to join Paris in its recognition of Palestine and recently opened a three-day council alongside Saudi Arabia at the UN with the goal of increasing recognition of a Palestinian state and ending the war in Gaza. Spain, Ireland and Norway all took the step to recognise Palestine as a state last year.
The Labour Government has also faced intense pressure domestically, as 220 MPs signed a letter which called on Starmer to recognise Palestine as a state. The letter was signed by 131 of Starmer’s own Labour MPs, as well as Lib Dem Leader Sir Ed Davey, and a number of MPs from the SNP, Greens, Plaid Cymru and independents. While recognition of Palestine will not end the suffering in Gaza, it is said that such a move would send a “powerful symbolic message” to the Palestinian people, showing them that there is hope of a “route that leads to lasting peace and security”.
The war in Gaza
The current war in Gaza, widely judged to have begun after the 7 October Hamas attacks, has seen 90% of Gaza’s 2.1 million population displaced, 70% of its infrastructure destroyed, and less than 12% of the strip is now considered to be a ‘safe-zone’. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said that Palestinians in Gaza are enduring a “humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions,” as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification platform also confirmed that two out of three famine thresholds had been met in Gaza. These are: plummeting food consumption, and acute malnutrition. There is mounting evidence that the third criteria needed to declare a famine, deaths from malnutrition, is also taking place, but cannot yet be demonstrated.
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