Why even Trump isn't buying Netanyahu's preposterous claim on Gaza's starvation crisis
This is Gaza, where a kilo of sugar costs $120. Where civilians describe being shot and bombed by the Israeli military when they tried to get supplies from aid convoys.
Where one father-of-four told me he ended up under a mound of bodies — some alive, some injured, some dead - when he went to get a single bag of flour from a World Food Programme truck two weekends ago. Flour he had to abandon in the deadly scrum.
It is unthinkable that in 2025, people - babies born after this nightmare even began - are dying from a famine manmade by an apparent ally. Nearly 150 people, including 88 babies, have died from malnutrition, according to the Palestinian health ministry. And that number will go up unless there is proper intervention now.
The solution is simple: we need a ceasefire, and for Israel to allow unfettered access of aid to the entire Gaza Strip. Anything less than that will not stop more people from dying.
A real solution is not sporadic airdrops (which experts say are dangerous, inefficient and expensive).
It is not temporary humanitarian corridors.
It is not 'tactical pauses.'
It is not nebulous 'militarised' aid schemes.
It is not corralling civilians into blasted corners of this hell and rewarding them with a bag of pasta.
To treat a famine of this intensity, it needs a multidimensional humanitarian response on a massive scale. It needs specialised therapeutic food, medical intervention, it needs sustained access to supplies. Eventually it will need Gaza's agricultural sector, destroyed by Israel, to be rebuilt.
And it will need those responsible for this to be held to account so it does not happen again.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, echoing his own military bodies, proclaimed on Sunday that there is 'no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza,' despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
This is despite ferocious criticism from world leaders, including his closest allies like Donald Trump and Keir Starmer, who are both supplying him the weapons to allow him to what his army is doing. Trump even said on Monday that it was 'real starvation' in Gaza adding, 'you can't fake that'.
It also contradicts what his own ministers have, at different points, admitted is the policy.
Day two of this war: then defence minister Yoav Gallant spelled it out.
'I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel. Everything is closed,' he said, an action which was cited in the International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued last November. "We are fighting human animals, and we are acting accordingly,' he added.
Last August extreme-right Finance minister Bezalel Smotrich bemoaned that 'No one in the world will allow us to starve 2 million people, even though it might be justified and moral in order to free the hostages.'
Just this week National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called the recent airdrops of food into Gaza 'a shame and disgrace.'
'I support starving Hamas in Gaza,' he added on X, an action that impossible to do without also starving the 2.3 million population and of course the remaining living hostages. The largest group representing the families of the hostages are in the streets begging for a ceasefire, so worried are they that their loved ones are also suffering these conditions.
Israel has controlled what goes in and out of Gaza for a long time. As the occupying power it has an obligation to ensure that the civilian population gets food and medical supplies.
It has maintained a substantial and unlawful blockade on Gaza since 2007 military take over by Hamas, according to respected rights groups and legal scholars. This is in part why well before this war erupted, medical officials have repeatedly told me Gaza was already lacking half the essential drugs list.
Since Hamas's 7 October 2023 bloody attack on southern Israel - during which Israel says militants killed over 1200 people and took 250 captive - Israel has tightened that noose straggling the 2. 3 million-strong population.
Respected groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have concluded that Israel is using hunger as a weapon of war, which is war crime.
Amnesty added in its report that their evidence shows Israel's continued use of starvation is 'part of its ongoing genocide'.
Today two respected Israeli rights groups Physicians for Human Rights - Israel and B'tselem released reports with legal-medical analysis accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, pointing to the decimated of the healthcare system and the strangling of aid.
The Israeli government vehemently denies this or that that Israel has commit any crimes in Gaza. It has rejected claims it has created famine or that there is even a hunger crisis at all.
It maintains it allows aid into the Strip and blames any restrictions on Hamas for allegedly systematically stealing aid (although recent leaks have contradicted that). Netanyahu today accused the United Nations of lying.
But the overwhelming body of evidence and testimony points to different reality.
One that for the sake of humanity must change now.
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Wednesday briefing: Facing the reality of Gaza's ‘unfolding' famine
Good morning. Humanitarians are running out of words to describe the horrors taking place in Gaza. The small strip of land has been brutalised, with all institutions that sustain life – from hospitals to schools – either completely destroyed or barely functioning. Now, the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warns that 'the worst-case scenario of famine is now unfolding in the Gaza Strip.' Thousands of children are malnourished and hunger-related deaths on the rise, particularly among the youngest. It is worth noting this is not a formal designation of famine in Gaza, and formal designations are incredibly rare and have only taken place a handful of times in the 21st century: in Somalia in 2011, in South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and in Sudan in 2024. What is perhaps most extraordinary about the situation is that desperately needed food and medicine lie at the borders of Gaza, leaving many to say that this famine is entirely human-made. It's for this reason, among others, that UK prime minister Keir Starmer announced Britain would recognise a Palestinian state in September – unless Israel abides by a ceasefire and commits to a two-state solution for the Middle East. Israel has denied limiting aid shipments. It has accused Hamas of diverting aid and blamed food shortages in Gaza on other factors, including distribution failures by the UN. To understand the nuance of when famine is declared, whether Gaza meets that threshold and what is needed to reverse course, I spoke to Francesco Checchi, a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and one of the county's leading experts on food insecurity in conflict zones. That's after the headlines. Asia-Pacific | A powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake has triggered a series of tsunami warnings and evacuation orders across Japan, the US and parts of the Pacific, after the shallow quake hit near Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. Israel-Gaza war | A group of high-profile Israeli public figures, including academics, artists and public intellectuals, has called for 'crippling sanctions' to be imposed by the international community on Israel, amid mounting horror over its starvation of Gaza. Labour | Jeremy Corbyn has accused the Labour government of 'appeasing' Reform UK by 'scapegoating' migrants and minorities for its own domestic policy failures, saying his new leftwing political party would take on Nigel Farage instead. Economy | Global growth will be stronger than previously expected this year after Donald Trump scaled back his most extreme tariff threats, the International Monetary Fund said as it upgraded the economic outlook for 2025. UK news | Five women who were abused as children by Rotherham grooming gangs were also raped by police officers when they were as young as 12 years old, they have claimed. The IPC was created as a tracking tool for hunger by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization in 2004. It is now the primary means of identifying famine across the world. The group applies the same standards across the countries it operates in, using a sliding scale from phase one (no or minimal food insecurity) to phase five (catastrophe or famine). It defines famine as a situation in which at least 20% households have an extreme lack of food and face starvation and destitution, resulting in extremely critical levels of acute malnutrition and death. Other classifications for phase five include roughly 30% of children under the age of five suffering from acute malnutrition, and two adults or four children out of 10,000 people dying from starvation or malnutrition on a daily basis. The latest analysis for the IPC makes for grim reading. It notes that: Between May and July 2025, acute malnutrition rates doubled in Khan Younis and increased by 70% in Deir al-Balah. In Gaza City, the acute malnutrition soared from 4.4% in May to 16.5% in the first half of July, reaching the famine threshold. Two-fifths of pregnant and breastfeeding women in the Gaza Strip were acutely malnourished in June. In northern Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is thought to be the worst, humanitarians are operating in the dark due to the lack of data. Famine is often declared in clusters within a city or an area, Francesco Checchi told me. 'It isn't necessarily the case that an entire population is declared to be in famine conditions. But in the case of Gaza, I think that's what we're seeing now'. Is there famine in Gaza? The IPC has stopped short of a formal declaration of famine, though its alert noted that some areas have reached the threshold. But Checchi, and other leading experts on the topic, are confident there is now a famine in Gaza. He explained there are different definitions of famine, but the broader one describes it as a situation where people have run out of any coping mechanisms to find food for themselves and their children. 'By coping mechanisms, I mean people sell off their assets, such as furniture, anything, borrow money from somebody else, or ask for remittances from relatives overseas. Where famine has set in is where none of that is actually possible. 'So talking to people from charities on the ground that I know, even their staff who have money in their pocket quite literally cannot purchase any food because there is no food to be purchased in a market,' Checchi said. Some on social media have criticised media portrayals of skeletal children in Gaza as misleading, including the shocking images and footage of 18-month-old Mohammed al-Mutawaq (pictured above with his mother, Hidaya), claiming his appearance is the result of other health conditions. 'Every time you show a single image, you expose yourself to the criticism that any given individual child may have some sort of condition that explains what they're going through other than malnutrition,' Checchi said. 'Now, I can show you an obvious demonstration of the fact that people in Gaza are literally starving: you have thousands and thousands of people queueing every day at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution site, even though it is almost certain on any given day that they will be fired upon. The fact they are going there anyway, even though they may not return, gives you a sense of how absolutely in need of food people are.' He added: 'When it comes to any individual child, it is worth understanding that children do not die of severe malnutrition. Very rarely do people literally starve to death. It happens, but it's relatively rare. Instead, people die of conditions that they would have survived from, such as common diarrhoea or common respiratory infections, that you and I would cope with very easily, but a malnourished body cannot cope with.' It's not surprising then that in a famine the first children to die are those who are disabled or have pre-existing conditions, Checchi said. It's also worth noting that in Gaza there are severe shortages of the life-saving medication needed to treat these children. 'What I think is going to start happening inevitably, unless the situation changes radically in the next two to three weeks, is that there's going to be a huge wave of children dying of common conditions and who otherwise wouldn't have,' he warned. Do we need more data? The IPC alert noted its struggle to get the data necessary to properly assess the situation, particularly in northern Gaza. Checchi said that one of the main reasons for this is Israel's tightening of the border crossing, preventing humanitarians from working freely through the strip. 'The kind of analysis that one could have done a year ago is no longer possible. I don't think there is any real information that is missing in terms of declaring a famine on the grounds because of the convergence of multiple data and multiple contextual information. And I don't think that governments such as the UK are unaware that what is happening is a famine,' Checchi said. Why is the UK now recognising Palestine? The 'increasingly intolerable' situation on the ground in Gaza has spearheaded a historic announcement by the UK government: it committed to recognising a Palestinian state. UK prime minister Keir Starmer told his ministers that recognition would take place ahead of the UN general assembly in New York this September, unless Israel agreed to a series of conditions set out in the UK-led eight-point peace plan. The UK has called on Israel to take 'substantive steps' to end the situation in Gaza, reach a ceasefire, commit to no annexation in the West Bank, as well as a long-term peace process. While many Labour MPs have welcomed the announcement, others are unhappy that Palestinian statehood – widely regarded as an inalienable right – was being wielded as leverage to pressure Israel into compliance. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion What can we do now to stop this catastrophe? For now, severe hunger and death continue to stalk the Gaza Strip. Checchi said he was shocked to see the UK government back airdrops as a solution to the crisis of hunger in Gaza. The studies on the effectiveness of airdrops and former US president Joe Biden's humanitarian aid pier were damning: it only contributed about 1% of caloric need in Gaza last year. 'Airdrops are actually dangerous because they kill people. People will drown trying to reach food [while others have been crushed to death by them]. They are ineffective and inefficient,' Checchi said. 'What needs to happen is very, very simple: a complete opening of the border crossings, and a complete restart of the traditional system of food distribution run by Unrwa, which has been running for decades now. They know what to do. They have the lists of people, they have the warehouses, they have everything in place to restart that system.' Checchi was keen to emphasise that the worst can still be averted. 'If food began to flood in and people were able to access it, despite reaching famine levels, the situation could conceivably reverse quite quickly. Whereas if you leave that for another two weeks or three weeks, then I think it's almost inevitable we'll see extremely high levels of child mortality.' The issue, as always, is political will. Here's a lovely piece about grandparents who get roped into school runs, sleepovers, film nights and baking (like Rita Labiche-Robinson, pictured above with her granddaughter Nia). For many, the main reason is simple: they enjoy it. Their kids seem to appreciate it, too. Phoebe Keir Starmer was sold to the public as a distinguished human rights lawyer who would restore the UK's commitment to international law if he won the election. But, since he became prime minister, many are asking why he is so cautious about tackling human rights abuses. Aamna It'll be American families who pick up the bill for Trump's tariffs, writes Callum Jones. Estimates suggest the impact so far is the equivalent to an average income loss of $2,400 (£1,800) per US household. Phoebe England are European champions – again. The togetherness of the team, including their shared anger at the racist abuse meted out to black players, was central in helping them clinch victory. Aamna Campaigners in Devon have mapped out land ownership along the Dart river and found it has 108 separate owners. Ownership is often murky –one-eighth of it is owned via offshore companies. Looks like the government election manifesto pledge to implement nine new 'river walks' in England could be a logistical nightmare. Phoebe Football | A total of 65,000 jubilant England fans lined the Mall in central London on Tuesday to welcome home the victorious Lionesses after their Euro 2025 victory on Sunday. The England squad, who returned from Switzerland on Monday after their victory over Spain the day before, were greeted by chants, cheers and more than a few tears. Cricket | India's increasingly ill-tempered tour of England continued as their head coach, Gautam Gambhir, engaged in an angry exchange with Surrey's head groundsman on Tuesday. Cycling | Dutch rider Lorena Wiebes stormed to her second consecutive stage victory at the Tour de France Femmes, winning the fourth leg with a dominant sprint finish. The largely flat 130km stage from Saumur to Poitiers saw the peloton remain tightly packed until the closing stretch before a showdown among the sprinters. The Guardian leads with 'UK to recognise state of Palestine unless Israel commits to ceasefire'. The Mirror calls it an 'Ultimatum', while the Times says 'Israel blasts Starmer over recognition of Palestine'. The Telegraph quotes Benjamin Netanyahu, saying 'Starmer 'rewarding Hamas on Palestine'', while the Mail follows the same line with 'Starmer's 'reward for Hamas''. The Financial Times reports 'Reeves' impatience for full Revolut approval triggers clash with Bailey'. Finally, the Sun reports on the end of a celebrity marriage with 'Cat & Pat split'. Can people still protest about Palestine in the UK? What has been the impact of Palestine Action's proscription as a terrorist organisation? Haroon Siddique reports. A bit of good news to remind you that the world's not all bad A Cambridge-based antiques dealer snapped up a Salvador Dalí painting at a house clearance sale after spotting Dalí's signature scrawled on the bottom-right corner. The painting of a bejewelled sultan hadn't garnered much interest among others at the auction. 'I wasn't sure I'd have it on the wall, to be honest,' said John Russell (not his real name). But he realised he was on to a winner, and was confident in his ability to spot an imitation thanks to years spent avidly watching the BBC TV show Fake or Fortune?. The painting only attracted two bidders, and Russell quickly outbid the other person when he offered £150. The Dalí expert Nicolas Descharnes confirmed to the Guardian it was authentic, albeit not his usual style. 'People expect to see very surrealist pieces by Dalí. This one is not surrealist, but it's a Dalí,' he said. It is now valued at £20,000 to £30,000. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday And finally, the Guardian's puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Sydney Harbour Bridge protest: How serial pest Josh Lees - who has never found a fringe protest movement he didn't support (including HARSHER Covid lockdowns!) - is behind push to shut down landmark for Palestine
A pro-Palestine demonstration that would shut down the Sydney Harbour Bridge is being led by a serial protester whose obsession with public rallies has spanned more than 20 years and earned him the reputation of a 'full-time pain in the a**'. Josh Lees wants to lead Australians in marching over the city's most famous landmark at a week's notice this Sunday in a 'Pro-Palestine March for Humanity' - a move opposed by Premier Chris Minns and the NSW Police Force. Since October 7, 2023 - when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, taking ore than 250 hostages and killing 1,200 people - Mr Lees, 43, has spearheaded weekly protests in Sydney, where he often addresses the crowd in a keffiyeh - a traditional form of scarf and headwear which has become a symbol of support for Palestine. Mr Lees has been adamant that Sunday's march will go ahead - boasting that the proposed rally has garnered the support of more than 150 organisations - despite police blocking the plan, citing public safety risks and major traffic disruption. Mr Lees has a long history of activism and was once branded by 2GB breakfast host Ben Fordham as a 'full-time pain in the a**' who had 'a finger in as many protest pies as he can handle'. He has spent more than two decades protesting for a myriad of causes ranging from supporting refugees and LGBTQ rights, opposing the Iraq War and backing stricter Covid lockdowns. He first made headlines in Green Left Weekly as a university tutor charged with resisting arrest at a voluntary student unionism protest. In the early 2000s, he took to the streets to protest the Iraq War and then-prime minister John Howard's refugee policies. He was one of dozens of protesters arrested for camping out in Martin Place in 2011 for the Occupy Sydney movement which rallied against economic inequality. That protest push was inspired by Occupy Wall Street - but quickly petered out. That same year, he led refugee advocates during a rally outside Immigration Department offices after legislation to implement offshore processing of asylum seekers passed federal parliament. 'These are outrageous policies which are going to take us back, not even just to the dark days of the Howard years, these policies are even more cruel than the Howard Pacific Solution,' Mr Lees told ABC at the time. More recently, Mr Lees was a spokesman for the Lockdown to Zero group, which campaigned for the NSW government to toughen its policies during the Covid pandemic to keep zero community transmission of the virus. Confusingly, he was also part of a Black Lives Matter protest during lockdowns in 2020 that defied Covid laws at the time preventing such gatherings. Mr Lees is also an activist for LGBTQ rights, climate change, anti-racism and recently took part in the National Day of Action Against Trump. He also writes for Red Flag, the newsletter of Socialist Alternative, a group that identifies as Australia's largest Marxist organisation. His most recent article was published on July 6, slamming Israel for portraying itself as the victim of its war with Gaza. 'The mainstream media and politicians' constant attempts to spin the story that Israel is the victim, the underdog, the state 'defending itself', are so out of touch with reality that they are becoming increasingly desperate and farcical,' he wrote. Mr Lees was hailed by Greens MP Sue Higginson to the Sydney Morning Herald as a justice warrior, while the city's Lord Mayor Clover Moore has described this Sunday's march as a 'powerful symbol'. But one man who definitely isn't part of the fan club is NSW Premier Chris Minns. He revealed last October that Lees had made applications to NSW Police every week for the past year to march through Sydney's CBD to protest Israel's bombing of Gaza. The police presence for the protests had cost taxpayers more than $5.4million in 2024 alone, according to Minns. In addition to overtime, the figure was estimated to be closer to $10million. Minns this week reignited his war of words with Mr Lees when he slammed this Sunday's proposed march. 'The NSW Government cannot support a protest of this scale and nature taking place on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, especially with one week's notice,' the premier said. 'The Bridge is one of the most critical pieces of infrastructure in our city—used every day by thousands of people. 'Unplanned disruption risks not only significant inconvenience, but real public safety concerns. 'We cannot allow Sydney to descend into chaos.' Mr Lees hit back by accusing Minns of interfering in police operations. He pointed out that the bridge is often shut down for major events, including a World Pride march, filming of Hollywood movies and the upcoming Sydney Marathon. 'Compare the pair,' Mr Lees captioned maps showing the street closures the August 31 marathon and Sunday's march would each cause. He has hinted at a court challenge after NSW Police blocked the bridge protest from going ahead on Wednesday. 'The process now is if the police or the government want to stop us from doing it, they have to take us to the Supreme Court and if they do that, we'll fight that in court,' Mr Lees said. 'Hundreds are starving to death… the people of Australia, and NSW, have had enough of this atrocity and are determined to take a powerful stand to make it stop. 'We will see them in court.'
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- The Guardian
UK to recognise state of Palestine in September unless Israel holds to ceasefire
The UK will formally recognise the state of Palestine this September as a result of the 'increasingly intolerable' situation on the ground in Gaza, unless Israel abides by a ceasefire and commits to a two-state solution in the Middle East. Keir Starmer's cabinet has agreed a roadmap for peace in the region after coming under intense domestic pressure over the mounting humanitarian crisis in the territory, and calls to follow France in acknowledging statehood. The prime minister recalled his cabinet from their summer break to approve the plan after holding talks with Donald Trump in Scotland. The US president said the issue had not come up, but that he did 'not mind' the UK taking a position, even if he would not. Starmer told his ministers that, because of the catastrophic situation on the ground in Gaza and the diminishing prospect of reaching a two-state solution, now was the right time to finally move. 'Ultimately, the only way to bring this humanitarian crisis to an end is through a long-term settlement,' he told reporters. 'Our goal remains a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state, but right now, that goal is under pressure like never before.' He added: 'I have always said that we will recognise a Palestinian state as a contribution to a proper peace process, at the moment of maximum impact for the two-state solution. With that solution now under threat, this is the moment to act.' UN-backed experts said a 'worst-case scenario of famine' was playing out in Gaza as the World Food Programme (WFP) described the hunger crisis in the territory as the worst seen this century, comparing it to previous famines in Ethiopia and Biafra. Israel has denied its actions in Gaza have caused famine. It came as the death toll from Israeli attacks in the war passed 60,000 people according to Gaza health ministry figures, almost half of them women and children. Israel has repeatedly limited aid trucks reaching Gaza during 22 months of war, and halted shipments entirely for six weeks at the start of the war, and between March and mid-May this year. Shipments are below levels needed to cover basic needs and the WFP says only about half of the aid it has requested to enter Gaza is reaching the territory after Israel eased restrictions over the weekend. In a significant shift in the UK's approach, Starmer said that recognition would take place before the UN general assembly in New York this September, unless Israel agreed to a series of conditions set out in the UK-led eight-point peace plan, and backed by allies. These were for Israel to take 'substantive steps' to end the situation in Gaza, reach a ceasefire, commit to no annexation in the West Bank, as well as a long-term peace process. Starmer spoke to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, before the announcement. Israel's foreign ministry last night told Starmer it 'rejects' his statement, which it said on social media site X amounted to a 'reward for Hamas'. 'The shift in the British government's position at this time, following the French move and internal political pressures, constitutes a reward for Hamas and harms efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of hostages,' it added. Netanyahu posted on X that Starmer had rewarded 'Hamas's monstrous terrorism'. 'A jihadist state on Israel's border today will threaten Britain tomorrow,' he added. The UK government also repeated its existing demands of Hamas, which it said must release all hostages immediately, disarm, sign up to a ceasefire and accept it would play no role in the government of Gaza. 'We'll make an assessment in September on how far the parties have met these steps, but no one should have a veto over our decision,' the prime minister added. However, there was some domestic pushback from the Liberal Democrats and the Greens against the government using the prospect of statehood as a 'bargaining chip'. They both argued the UK should recognise Palestine immediately. The UK roadmap follows an agreement to work towards 'lasting peace' in the region with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, at the weekend. Starmer spent Tuesday evening on calls to allies. After their talks in Scotland on Monday, Trump removed a key obstacle to the UK recognising a Palestinian state, signalling the US – one of Israel's strongest backers – would not object to such a move. He also expressed concern at images of children starving in the territory. However, a spokesperson for the US state department on Tuesday evening called Starmer's remarks a 'slap in the face for the victims of October 7'. 'It gives one group hope, and that's Hamas. It is a rewarding of that kind of behaviour,' Tammy Bruce said, adding: 'There's one group that benefits from the images, the reality of the horribleness, and that's Hamas. And so there's a reason why they don't cooperate and stop.' Downing Street had insisted that formal recognition of Palestine was a matter of 'when, not if', with the Labour government facing calls to take further action as UK public opinion hardened over horrific scenes on the ground. Britons are in favour of recognition by more than three to one, according to polling by Survation, which shows 49% of people in favour, and only 13% opposed. It also suggested that, by a margin of almost five to one, people wanted the government to be more critical of Israel's actions in Gaza. Starmer told reporters the humanitarian situation, which was 'getting worse by the day', was behind the timing of the UK's decision, along with concerns that the possibility of a two-state solution was receding. The UK has worked with Jordan to drop 20 tonnes of aid by air in recent days. 'We've been saying for some considerable time now we need to get more aid in at volume and at speed, and the situation now is absolutely catastrophic, which is why I've taken this decision today in relation to the two-state solution and the recognition of Palestine,' he said. The Guardian revealed last week that Starmer was under pressure from cabinet ministers for the UK to immediately recognise Palestine as a state, joining almost 140 other countries, as global outcry grew over Israel's killing of starving civilians in Gaza. Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, and Wes Streeting, the health secretary, are understood to have been among them, while more than a third of Labour MPs signed a letter backing recognition. Announcing the move at the UN, foreign secretary David Lammy said the UK hoped it could affect the situation on the ground in Gaza over the next eight weeks. He added the UK, which first supported the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine in 1917, bore a 'special burden of responsibility' to back a two-state solution. '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,' he said.
