Netanyahu blasts Starmer over pledge UK will recognise Palestine unless war ends
The UK would refrain from recognising a Palestinian state if Israel allows more aid into Gaza, stops annexing land in the West Bank, agrees to a ceasefire and signs up to a long-term peace process over the next two months.
The Prime Minister recalled the Cabinet from their summer holidays to discuss steps to end what he called the 'appalling situation in Gaza', where a UN assessment has warned the population is facing a mounting famine.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
"Starmer rewards Hamas's monstrous terrorism & 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."
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) July 29, 2025
Sir Keir spoke with Mr Netanyahu ahead of making the announcement, when he also warned that a two-state solution to the conflict in the Middle East 'feels further away today than it has for many, many years'.
Mr Netanyahu did not hold back in his criticism of Sir Keir's announcement, writing on social media site X: 'Starmer rewards Hamas's monstrous terrorism and punishes its victims.'
He added: '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 his address, Sir Keir insisted that Hamas must immediately release all remaining Israeli hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, disarm and 'accept that they will play no part in the government of Gaza'.
The British Government plans to 'make an assessment in September on how far the parties have met these steps', before it decides whether to recognise a state of Palestine, Sir Keir told reporters.
Speaking from Downing Street's state dining room – sometimes used for press conferences – the Prime Minister said: 'I can confirm the UK will recognise the state of Palestine by the United Nations General Assembly in September, 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.
'And this includes allowing the UN to restart the supply of aid and making clear that there will be no annexations in the West Bank.
'Meanwhile, our message to the terrorists of Hamas is unchanged but unequivocal: they must immediately release all of the hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, disarm and accept that they will play no part in the government of Gaza.'
Palestinians search for aid that landed in the Mediterranean Sea after being airdropped over central Gaza (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)
Sir Keir said the Government's 'primary aim' was getting aid into Gaza and getting hostages released when asked why recognition was conditional.
He added: 'This is intended to further that course, and it is done now because I am particularly concerned that the very idea of a two-state solution is reducing and feels further away today than it has for many, many years and, therefore, it should be seen in both of those contexts.'
While Sir Keir signalled the UK could back away from recognising a Palestinian state if his conditions are met, No 10 is understood to believe that such a two-state solution would also proceed from negotiations towards a sustained peace.
The UK and its allies need to see 'at least 500 trucks entering Gaza every day' to deliver aid, the Prime Minister added, and are together 'mounting a major effort to get humanitarian supplies back in' by air and by land.
Sir Keir Starmer answers questions from the media after making a statement in Downing Street (Toby Melville/PA)
The Prime Minister discussed a UK-led international plan to alleviate the crisis in Gaza with Donald Trump on Monday, when the US president acknowledged there was 'real starvation' in the territory.
Sir Keir has likened the plan he is working on with France and Germany to the coalition of the willing, the international effort to support Ukraine towards a lasting peace.
However, on Tuesday, Mr Trump suggested they had not directly discussed the prospect of recognising Palestine.
Sir Keir made a flurry of diplomatic phone calls throughout Tuesday, alongside his one with Mr Netanyahu.
These included to his Canadian counterpart, Mark Carney; the president of the Palestinian authority, Mahmoud Abbas; and King Abdullah II of Jordan, whose nation is leading efforts to airdrop aid into Gaza.
About 20 tonnes of aid have been dropped by the UK and Jordan in recent days, according to Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
However, speaking at the UN in New York, he insisted aid must flow in unrestricted via a land route, adding: 'We have to have those trucks get in.'
Opposition parties, including the Lib Dems, the Greens and Plaid Cymru, have hit out at Sir Keir for using Palestinian statehood as a 'bargaining chip'.
Conservative shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel, meanwhile, said recognising Palestine 'will not secure lasting peace'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
23 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Labour's plan to recognise Palestine even if Hamas does not release hostages SLAMMED by families of captives
A statement issued by the families' lawyers said the conditions for recognising a Palestinian state would be assessed in late-September DEAL SHOCK Labour's plan to recognise Palestine even if Hamas does not release hostages SLAMMED by families of captives Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) HOSTAGE families blasted Labour's plan to recognise Palestine — after being told failure to release loved-ones will not stop the move. At a Foreign Office meeting, the relatives of four British-linked captives were told the UK would press ahead with state recognition even if Hamas terrorists refuse to free any of the 50 it still holds. Sign up for the Politics newsletter Sign up A statement issued by their lawyers Adam Rose and Adam Wagner KC said the conditions for recognising a Palestinian state would be assessed in late-September. But it added: 'It was made obvious to us at the meeting that, in deciding whether to go ahead with recognition, the release or otherwise of the hostages would play no part in those considerations.' They warned the UK's new position would not help 'and could even hurt' hostages. They said PM Sir Keir Starmer's plan 'appears to be to put pressure on the Israelis only to reach a deal'. It abandons efforts to press both sides, they add. Sir Keir outlined the route to recognising a Palestinian state this week. He was met with outrage by hostage families and concern from Jewish community leaders. Emily Damari, 29, who was held in Gaza and released in January, called it a 'moral failure'. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump vowed to 'get people fed' in Gaza after sending envoy Steve Witkoff to tour a US-backed aid site in Rafah. Hamas agrees to release 10 hostages as terror group issues ceasefire red lines after Trump pressured Israel to end war
North Wales Chronicle
an hour ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Kemi Badenoch says she does not feel Nigerian and no longer has passport
The Conservative Party leader was born in the UK but grew up in Nigeria. When the country's economy collapsed in the 1990s, her parents took advantage of her British passport to get her out, sending her at the age of 16 to live with a family friend in south London to continue her education. She said she had not renewed her Nigerian passport in two decades in an interview with the Rosebud podcast. 'I have not renewed my Nigerian passport, I think, not since the early 2000s. 'I don't identify with it any more, most of my life has been in the UK and I've just never felt the need to.' She said she had to get a visa to visit the country when her father died, which she described as a 'big fandango'. 'I'm Nigerian through ancestry, by birth, despite not being born there because of my parents… but by identity I'm not really. 'I know the country very well, I have a lot of family there, and I'm very interested in what happens there. 'But home is where my now family is, and my now family is my children, it's my husband and my brother and his children, in-laws. The Conservative party is very much part of my family – my extended family, I call it,' she said. The North West Essex MP said her early experiences in Nigeria shaped her political outlook, including 'why I don't like socialism'. 'And I remember never quite feeling that I belonged there,' she added. The Tory leader said the reason she returned to the UK as a teenager was a 'a very sad one'. 'It was that my parents thought: 'There is no future for you in this country'.' She has not experienced racial prejudice in Britain 'in any meaningful form', she said. 'I knew I was going to a place where I would look different to everybody, and I didn't think that that was odd,' she said. 'What I found actually quite interesting was that people didn't treat me differently, and it's why I'm so quick to defend the UK whenever there are accusations of racism.'
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Labour's border chaos is fuelling public fury and fear as dangerous foreign offenders vanish into thin air
Labour's not smashing it IT is little more than a year since Labour came to power promising to smash the people-smuggling gangs. Instead they have smashed the economy — with inflation up, unemployment up and business confidence at a record low. The only significant growth is in the number of illegal migrants coming here in small boats. Already over 25,000 have arrived this year — a 50 per cent rise on the 2024 figure by this stage, which was shocking enough. That number is dwarfed by the UK's astonishing 700,000 population increase in just a year — almost entirely due to legal immigration — which itself is utterly unsustainable. The arrival of thousands of mostly undocumented illegal migrants is symptomatic of just how badly Britain has lost control of its borders. It's not just the millions of pounds it costs taxpayers every day to shower the migrants with handouts and put them up in hotels, nor the fact that so many of them find black market jobs. Most of the arrivals are young men of fighting age — yet the authorities seem to have little idea who they are, even if they end up in court. National emergency We discovered earlier this week that the number of foreign sex offenders and violent criminals in prison in England and Wales is at a record high, and that 40 per cent of people charged with sex attacks in the capital were foreign nationals. Now we learn foreign criminals are simply walking free mid-trial and disappearing under false names because of a dangerous 'disconnect' between prosecutors and immigration enforcement. It is little wonder that people — not least mothers — worry about migrant hotels on their doorsteps, or that protests are growing, or that polls show immigration is the number one issue concerning voters. So what is the Government doing about this national emergency? Reform UK's rising star Laila Cunningham It seems to have no plan, beyond a sketchy one-in-one-out deal with France and setting up a spy unit to track anyone on social media discussing anti-migrant sentiment or two-tier justice. While Britain continues to house soaring numbers of uninvited guests in four-star hotels, America has seen a massive drop in illegal border crossings because tough detention centres and deportations await those who do. President Donald Trump has shown the problem CAN be tackled, if only the political will exists. The Government, which ditched the Rwanda scheme — the only viable deterrent — as its first act in power, has shown precious little will so far. It's about time Sir Keir Starmer realised the urgency of the situation... and started taking tough action of his own. 1
