British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will recall his cabinet from their summer break to discuss the situation in Gaza, the Financial Times reported yesterday, amid growing pressure on the Labour government to recognise a Palestinian state.
Starmer’s office did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment on the report.
The paper said the move to recall his cabinet of ministers next week was set out yesterday by Downing Street. The UK parliament and cabinet are currently in a summer recess until September 1.
The recall comes after Starmer said on Friday the British government would recognise a Palestinian state only as part of a negotiated peace deal, disappointing many in his Labour Party who want him to follow France in taking swifter action.
President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday France would recognise a Palestinian state, a plan that drew strong condemnation from Israel and the United States, after similar moves from Spain, Norway and Ireland last year.
More than 220 members of parliament in the UK, representing about a third of the House of Commons and mostly Labour members, wrote to Starmer on Friday urging him to recognise a Palestinian state.
Successive British governments have said they will formally recognise a Palestinian state when the time is right, without ever setting a timetable or specifying the necessary conditions.
Starmer’s approach to the issue has been complicated by the arrival in Scotland on Friday of US President Donald Trump, with whom he has built warm relations. In foreign policy terms, Britain has rarely diverged from the United States.
Israel’s decision yesterday to pause military operations for 10 hours a day in parts of Gaza and allow new aid corridors falls short of what is needed to alleviate suffering in the enclave, Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy said.
Lammy said in a statement that Israel’s announcement was “essential but long overdue”, and that access to aid must now be urgently accelerated over the coming hours and days.
“This announcement alone cannot alleviate the needs of those desperately suffering in Gaza,” Lammy said. “We need a ceasefire that can end the war, for hostages to be released and aid to enter Gaza by land unhindered.”
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