Starmer to hold emergency talks on Gaza with France and Germany

The Herald Scotland

4 days ago

It comes as aid groups warn of starvation in the Gaza Strip and the US said it was cutting short ceasefire talks.
Sir Keir is also under increasing pressure to fulfil Labour's promise to recognise Palestine as a state.
French President Emmanuel Macron, Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (Ben Stansall/PA)
The Prime Minister said: 'The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible.
'While the situation has been grave for some time, it has reached new depths and continues to worsen. We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe.
'I will hold an emergency call with E3 partners tomorrow, where we will discuss what we can do urgently to stop the killing and get people the food they desperately need, while pulling together all the steps necessary to build a lasting peace.
'We all agree on the pressing need for Israel to change course and allow the aid that is desperately needed to enter Gaza without delay.'
He said it is 'hard to see a hopeful future in such dark times' but called again for all sides to engage 'in good faith, and at pace' on a ceasefire and the release of all hostages.
'We strongly support the efforts of the US, Qatar and Egypt to secure this,' he said.
Weeks of talks in Qatar to try to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have yielded no major breakthroughs.
Steve Witkoff, the Trump administration's special envoy, said on Thursday the US was cutting short Gaza ceasefire talks and sending home its negotiating team after the latest response from Hamas 'shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza'.
The deal under discussion is expected to include a 60-day ceasefire in which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 others in phases in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Aid supplies would be ramped up and the two sides would hold negotiations on a lasting truce.
Sir Keir said on Thursday that a ceasefire would provide a pathway to recognising a Palestinian state, as he faces calls to do so immediately.
'We are clear that statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people.
'A ceasefire will put us on a path to the recognition of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution which guarantees peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis,' he said.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said earlier that the Government was 'deeply committed' to recognition but that such a move would need to be 'meaningful'.
Smoke billows from an explosion in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP)
Mr Reynolds told LBC Radio: 'Now, at the minute, there is not a Palestinian state there. There is no political agreement between the two principal Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza.'
He pointed to steps the UK has taken to ramp up pressure on Israel, including sanctioning two Israeli cabinet ministers and ending trade talks with Israel.
'And we do want to see Palestine recognised. I want that to be meaningful. I want that to be working with partners, other countries around the world.'
French President Emmanuel Macron pressed for recognition of Palestinian statehood in a recent address to the UK's Parliament, saying it was the 'only path to peace'.
Labour's London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has piled pressure on Sir Keir to 'immediately recognise Palestinian statehood' and said the UK 'must do far more to pressure the Israeli government to stop this horrific senseless killing'.
The UK must immediately recognise Palestinian statehood.
There can be no two state solution if there is no viable state left to call Palestine. pic.twitter.com/7c7YlIUw3P
— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) July 23, 2025
The Trades Union Congress also called for formal recognition of Palestine 'not in a year's time or two years' time – but now'.
'Recognition is not a symbolic gesture. It is a necessary and practical step towards a viable two-state solution that delivers equal rights and democracy, this is the only credible path to a just and lasting peace, ending decades of occupation, violence, and displacement,' the TUC said.
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has called for the Royal Air Force to carry out airdrops of aid into Gaza.
'Aid delivered by the air is no substitute for the reopening of supply routes by land,' he said.
'But the extent of the humanitarian catastrophe we are now witnessing requires us to leave no stone unturned in our efforts to get aid to Gazans.'
More than 100 organisations, including Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children, have put their names to an open letter in which they said they were watching their own colleagues, as well as the Palestinians they serve, 'waste away'.
It comes as the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, described the situation in Gaza as 'a stain on the conscience of the international community'.
He said: 'With each passing day in Gaza, the violence, starvation and dehumanisation being inflicted on the civilian population by the government of Israel becomes more depraved and unconscionable.'
Hamas-led militants based in Gaza abducted 251 people in the October 7 attack in 2023 that triggered the war and killed about 1,200 people.
Fewer than half of the 50 hostages still in Gaza are believed to be alive.