Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey has urged Keir Starmer to pick up the phone to the US president and agree a joint plan to “recognise Palestine and get food, water and medicine into Gaza.”
During Wednesday’s PMQs Davey told the Commons: “For more than 10 weeks, Israeli forces have blocked food, water and medicine getting into Gaza. There is now a humanitarian catastrophe with two million people at risk of famine and one in five facing starvation.
“Rather than ending this crisis, the Netanyahu government is planning to seize all Gaza indefinitely.
“Now I know the Prime Minister will agree that the blockade to Gaza should end and I’m sure he would agree that it would be appalling if Netanyahu proceeds with that escalation.
“But will he act now and pick up the phone to President Trump for a joint plan to recognise Palestine and get food, water and medicine into Gaza?”
Ed Davey meets with Yair Lapid in Israel
Responding, the Prime Minister said that “the situation in Gaza is simply intolerable and getting worse” but said the UK was working with other leaders urgently to bring about a “rapid and unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza which is desperately needed, obviously alongside the release of hostages, and to get back to a ceasefire.”
Starmer added: “And that work is going on through my team 24/7. I do believe that that is the initial action that needs to be taken but I still fundamentally believe that however remote it may seem at the moment, the pathway to a two-state solution is the only way for settled and lasting peace in the Middle East, and we will continue with our allies to pursue that path.”
Over 70 Labour parliamentarians sent a letter to Starmer this week urging him to recognise the state of Palestine.
The letter told the Prime Minister to take the “unique window of opportunity” to join with France at a conference in June to recognise Palestine, which Emmanuel Macron has hinted he will do.
Last week it emerged that more than a dozen Tory MPs had also called for the UK to recognise a Palestinian state, in a letter sent to the PM.
Jewish News understands the government has met with leading Israeli human rights voices in recent weeks who are also supportive of moves to recognise Palestine, alongside France.
They argue that this would increase pressure on Israel to enter into negotiations with the Palestinians, and would also strengthen the UK position in regards to illegal settlements.
Following PMQS, Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer called on Israel to “lift the block on aid entering Gaza now” – but some MPs seated in the Commons responded by shouting “or what?”
Falconer was responding to an urgent question on Wednesday from Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsey on “the UK’s assessment as to whether Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians.”
The Labour minister said it was the UK Government’s long standing position that “any formal determination as to whether genocide has occurred is a matter for a competent court and not for governments or non-judicial bodies.”
“The UK is fully committed to upholding our responsibilities under domestic and international law, and we have at all times, acted in a manner consistent with our legal obligations, including under the Genocide Convention,” he added.
Falconer also told MPs: “Israel’s denial of aid is appalling. Tonnes of food are currently sitting rotting at the Gaza-Israel border blocked from reaching people who are starving.
“Israeli ministers have said Israel’s decision to block this aid is a pressure lever. This is cruel and it is indefensible. Overnight, yet more Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes. This must end. The message yesterday was clear. The world demands Israel stop and change course immediately.”
Ramsey had cited a UN assessment that “genocide is possible in Gaza” and claimed “when the horrors increase the UK government’s position stays the same.”
Responding to the taunts of “or what?” from MPs, Falconer said: “With our allies, we are telling the government of Israel – lift the block on aid entering Gaza now, enable the UN and all humanitarians to save lives now, we need an immediate ceasefire now.
“Humanitarian aid must never be used as a political tool or military tactic, and the UK will not support any aid mechanism that seeks to deliver political or military objectives or puts vulnerable civilians at risk.”
