World Food Programme hopes for surge in food aid to Gaza
The United Nations agency has enough food in or on its way to the region to feed the entire Gaza population of 2.1 million for almost three months, it said in a post on X.
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Telegraph
39 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Starmer to recall cabinet for emergency meeting on Gaza
Sir Keir Starmer is set to recall cabinet ministers from their summer breaks for an emergency meeting on Gaza, according to reports. The Government is under intense pressure from Labour MPs over its stance on the Israel-Gaza war as the humanitarian situation in the strip worsens. Images of starvation have led to growing condemnation of Israel and calls for a ceasefire have intensified. Sources told The Guardian of the Cabinet recall as they insisted the Prime Minister is 'horrified' by images of starving civilians. They also told the newspaper that formally recognising a Palestinian state was a matter of 'when not if', days after French president Emmanuel Macron said he would use a speech in September to recognise Palestine. Sir Keir is expected to push Donald Trump to take a tougher stance against Israel when they meet at the president's Turnberry golf course in Scotland later on Monday. David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, will also attend a conference on the two-state solution in New York this week where the pathway to a Palestinian state is expected to be discussed. Talks on a Gaza ceasefire have come to a standstill in recent days after the US accused Hamas of acting in bad faith. Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump's Middle East envoy, announced on Thursday that the US was bringing home its negotiators, saying Hamas 'clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire'. He added the US would now 'consider alternative options to bring the hostages home', without clarifying what they would be. A ramping up of aid supplies and the return of more Israeli hostages were expected to form part of any truce. Angela Rayner is leading attempts in cabinet to persuade Sir Keir to formally recognise Palestine and a third of backbench Labour MPs have also pressed the Prime Minister to back the move. He has previously disappointed them by insisting any recognition would have to come at a time when it would be most beneficial to any peace process. He said on Thursday that Palestinians have an 'inalienable right' to a state of their own. Pressure on Sir Keir is likely to intensify after Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana launched a new hard-Left party to challenge Sir Keir. The pair have accused the Government of enabling genocide and are expected to link up with several independent pro-Gaza MPs. Last week, a committee of MPs said Sir Keir should 'immediately' recognise a Palestinian state 'while there is still a state to recognise'. The recommendation was made by Parliament's foreign affairs committee, led by Dame Emily Thornberry, the veteran Labour MP, in a new report on the Gaza conflict. She told The Guardian of the talks: 'Netanyahu only listens to Trump, and even then only sometimes. But somebody has to talk to the Israelis and nothing is going to move in this awful situation without him. 'Trump needs to hear that he has the strength of 10 presidents, that only he can get a ceasefire. 'But it's high risk for Keir as it could anger him and it's not even clear whether it would work. But he has to try, this is the moment it has to be done. 'Trump also needs to hear that allies, including the UK, French and Saudis, are prepared to work together to put together peace proposals but they will only work if they result in two states: Israel and Palestine.' Conservative MP Kit Malthouse, a former cabinet minister and critic of Israel, told the newspaper: 'Every moment of inaction is a deliberate choice. These two leaders hold the power to end the starvation and killings in Gaza, to halt the violence in the West Bank, and to bring the hostages home with a permanent ceasefire. 'If they fail to act, history will not only remember the atrocities, it will remember that they had the means to stop them and chose not to.' Critics of immediate recognition have said that it should not happen until Hamas is removed from any leadership role in Gaza and all Israeli hostages are released. Israel's government has characterised any recognition by the UK and France as a 'reward' for Hamas's Oct 7 2023 atrocities.
Times
39 minutes ago
- Times
Israel challenges UN to deliver more food to Gaza
Israel challenged the United Nations on Sunday to carry out its pledge to deliver more food to the starving people of Gaza after announcing a U-turn in its aid policy. After two months of restricting UN aid convoys in favour of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the Israel Defence Forces said they were implementing new 'humanitarian pauses' in fighting to allow in more UN aid. They stopped daytime military operations in three locations: Gaza city, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi. In addition they set up 'secure routes to enable the safe passage of UN and humanitarian aid organisation convoys delivering and distributing food and medicine to the population across the Gaza Strip'. They also allowed three Jordanian and Emirati supply planes to drop aid supplies into the strip, though the quantity delivered, 25 tonnes, is a fraction of what the UN can deliver on the ground. The World Food Programme (WFP) said that it distributed 4,200 tonnes last week, even before Israel eased restrictions. Israel also staged its own air drops. Israeli ministers have alternated between denying the existence of famine conditions in Gaza, despite the mounting numbers of images of emaciated children, and blaming Hamas. On Sunday Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, gave an ambiguous interpretation of whether the IDF's reversal amounted to a concession to international pressure, including from Britain and other western governments. 'Whichever path we choose, we will have to continue to allow the entry of minimal humanitarian supplies,' Netanyahu said. Speaking from the Ramon air base in the Negev desert, he added: 'There are secured convoys. There have been all along, but today it is official. There will be no more excuses.' In line with warnings from aid officials, the first convoys seen to enter Gaza under the new regimen, including from Egypt for the first time in months, were mobbed by desperate crowds. Apart from the aid situation, the prospect of a ceasefire will be high on the agenda when President Trump meets Sir Keir Starmer on Monday, especially after the announcement by President Macron of France on Friday that he intended to recognise Palestinian statehood. Starmer has so far resisted pressure to follow suit but ministers were keen to show they were paying attention to growing concern about Gaza by focusing on aid. David Lammy, the foreign secretary, reiterated promises to join the Israeli air drop scheme but also insisted that ground convoys were the only way to get enough food into Gaza to feed its people. 'Access to aid must be urgently accelerated over the coming hours and days,' he said. 'Whilst airdrops will help to alleviate the worst of the suffering, land routes serve as the only viable and sustainable means of providing aid into Gaza. These measures must be fully implemented and further barriers on aid removed. The world is watching.' Although aid agencies say that only a ceasefire will allow Gaza to obtain all the aid it needs, they welcomed the easing of restrictions yesterday. 'We have enough food in, or on its way to, the region to feed the entire population of 2.1 million people for almost three months,' the World Food Programme said. 'These new commitments to improve operating conditions come on top of earlier assurances from Israel to strengthen facilitation of humanitarian assistance.' UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher said aid restrictions appeared to have eased by Sunday evening, citing initial reports indicating that over 100 truckloads of aid were collected. He warned in a statement, however, that 'sustained action' was needed to 'stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis'. In Israel, a boat attempting to bring a symbolic amount of aid into the territory was brought into the port of Ashod, along with its 21 crew members from the Pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition activist group – including two French parliamentarians and two Al Jazeera journalists. Israeli forces seized the vessel in international waters earlier in the weekend. In Gaza, six people died from malnutrition in 24 hours, the Hamas-run health ministry said on Sunday, with the World Health Organisation stating that the condition remained 'on a dangerous trajectory, marked by a spike in deaths in July'. AHMED JIHAD IBRAHIM AL-ARINI/ GETTY IMAGES It said it had recorded 63 deaths from malnutrition this month, including 24 children under five, one child over five, and 38 adults. That compared with a total of 11 deaths over the first six months of the year. Mervat Najm, 53, who has nine children, said she felt more secure, even if she had yet to receive more food herself. 'We woke up and for once we felt some psychological relief,' she said. 'But no organisation has contacted us. We're glued to our phones, trying to keep them charged, just in case we receive a message saying we can collect aid. 'We just want the aid to come in safely. A few days ago my 17-year-old son Abdel Rahman was carrying a bag of flour when someone pulled a knife on him and stole it.' A key marker of confidence is the price of food on what remains of the open market in Gaza. 'Just two days ago I bought a pack of pasta for 35 shekels (£7.75). Today, I found the same pack for 15 shekels,' said Doaa Masoud, a teacher and father of three who has been displaced to Muwasi. 'Traders are beginning to lower prices. Flour was selling for 100 shekels per kilo a few days ago. Today some sellers are offering it for 25 shekels. But for us, as displaced families, we're still living off promises, not real assistance.'
Daily Mail
39 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Golf date for Starmer and Trump as PM set to travel to Scotland to discuss ceasefire in Gaza
Sir Keir Starmer is expected to travel to Scotland for a meeting with Donald Trump on his golf course tomorrow to discuss a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the war in Ukraine. The Prime Minister will make the journey up north to visit Trump Turnberry in Girvan, Ayrshire, where the US President has been playing golf since Saturday morning. Starmer and Trump are expected to discuss the prospect of a ceasefire in the Middle East and how to apply pressure on Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. They are also expected to talk one-on-one about advancing implementation of the UK-US trade deal, signed on May 8. The PM is also expected to welcome the President's administration working with Qatar and Egypt to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza. A Number 10 spokesperson said it was expected they will discuss 'what more can be done to secure the ceasefire urgently, bring an end to the unspeakable suffering and starvation in Gaza and free the hostages who have been held so cruelly for so long'. The war in Ukraine will also be up for discussion with both politicians 'set to talk about their shared desire to bring an end to the barbaric war' according to Number 10, and expected to 'reflect on progress in their 50-day drive to arm Ukraine and force Putin to the negotiating table '. After a meeting at the course, Starmer and Trump will travel on together for a further private engagement in Aberdeen. A government spokesperson said: 'The UK and the US have one of the closest, most productive alliances the world has ever seen, working together to cooperate on defence, intelligence, technology and trade. 'The UK was the first country to agree a deal with the US that lowered tariffs on key sectors and has received one of the lowest reciprocal tariff rates in the world. 'Businesses in aerospace and autos are already benefiting from the strong relationship the UK has with the US and the deal agreed on May 8. 'The Government is working at pace with the US to go further to deliver benefits to working people on both sides of the Atlantic and to give UK industry the security it needs, protect vital jobs, and put more money in people's pockets through the Plan for Change.'
