U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Tuesday that Britain will join France in recognizing a Palestinian state in September at the United Nations General Assembly if Israel does not agree to a ceasefire with Hamas.
Starmer, who is facing increasing pressure from Britons over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war, cited the “catastrophic failure of aid” in the region as well as the images of starving Palestinian babies and children that he said will “stay with us for a lifetime.”
He said he would go through with the move “unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire and commit to a long-term, sustainable peace, reviving the prospect of a Two State Solution,” which he said felt increasingly unlikely.
Starmer also said the U.K’s message to the “terrorists of Hamas is unchanged and unequivocal” and called for the terror group to “immediately release all the hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, disarm and accept that they will play no part in the government of Gaza.”
Starmer’s announcement comes a day after he met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Scotland, where Trump said he believed — contradicting the Israeli position — that there was “real starvation” in Gaza. Trump also said he had “no view” on potential U.K. unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, a move that Israel and, historically, the United States have staunchly opposed.
Writing that Starmer’s announcement “rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism & punishes its victims,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lambasted Starmer’s announcement in a post on X.
“A jihadist state on Israel’s border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW,” Netanyahu said. “Appeasement towards jihadist terrorists always fails. It will fail you too. It will not happen.”
Starmer’s announcement comes days after French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly this fall.
While the recognition of Palestinian statehood is largely symbolic, the announcements by two major European countries with large shares of the global Jewish population underscore a sharp uptick in support for the Palestinians nearly two years into the Israel-Hamas war.
During their meeting, Starmer and Trump discussed the aid crisis in Gaza that has attracted global outcry in recent weeks.
“We’re giving a lot of money and a lot of food, and other nations are now stepping up,” Trump said. “It’s a mess. They have to get food and safety right now.”
Starmer agreed, saying: “It’s a humanitarian crisis, right? It’s an absolute catastrophe…. I think people in Britain are revolted at seeing what they’re seeing on their screen.”
In his announcement Tuesday, Starmer said the U.K. aid had been air dropped into Gaza Tuesday, an effort that dovetails with Israel’s announcement Sunday that it would pause military operations in some parts of Gaza for 10 hours a day to facilitate the distribution of aid to civilians.
“So this is the way forward,” Starmer said. “We will keep working with all our international partners to end the suffering, get aid flooding into Gaza and deliver a more stable future for the Middle East. Because I know that is what the British people desperately want to see.”
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