Keir Starmer has said the UK will recognise Palestine state this September.
The PM has told his Cabinet the move, with a No 10 spokesperson saying: “Turning to recognition, the Prime Minister said it had been this Government’s longstanding position that recognition of a Palestinian state was an inalienable right of the Palestinian people and that we would recognise a Palestinian state as part of a process to peace and a Two State solution.
“He said that because of the increasingly intolerable situation in Gaza and the diminishing prospect of a peace process towards a Two State Solution, now was the right time to move this position forward. He said that the UK will recognise the state of Palestine in September, before UNGA, unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, reaches a ceasefire, makes clear there will be no annexation in the West Bank, and commits to a long-term peace process that delivers a Two State Solution. He reiterated that there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas and that our demands on Hamas remain, that they must release all the hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, accept that they will play no role in the government of Gaza, and disarm.
“He committed to make an assessment ahead of UNGA on how far the parties have met these steps before making a final decision, ensuring that no one side will have a veto. He reiterated that he had taken this action to protect the viability of the Two State Solution, and that the immediate focus must be to get more aid urgently into Gaza, and that work would continue to bring allies on board with the plan that delivers a long-term settlement to the conflict.
“The Foreign Secretary said that he was at the Two State Solution Conference in New York and would be speaking to allies about our peace plan and would make a statement to the General Assembly. He reiterated that our support for the security of Israel remained unchanged, but that the situation in Gaza required urgent action. He updated on work with Jordan and UAE to get urgent aid into Gaza in the past 24 hours but that we now need to see this move in at scale.”
This is a breaking story and will be updated soon