Downing Street has repeatedly declined to condemn Donald Trump’s shock plan for the US to take over Gaza while maintaining the UK government’s commitment to a two-state solution.
Speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions, Keir Starmer said said Palestinians “must be allowed to return home”.
No.10 later told Westminster journalists that the government remained focused on working with regional allies to deliver all stages of the ceasefire process, along with the release of the hostages still held in Gaza.
The PM also told the Commons that two images remain fixed in his mind – Emily Damari being reunited with her mother, and Palestinians walking though rubble to return home in Gaza.
Asked for his view of Donald Trump’s shock claim that the UK could take ownership of the Gaza Strip, the Prime Minister said Palestinians “must be allowed to return home.”Starmer comments came after the US president suggested Gaza could become the “Riviera of the Middle East” and he does not “think people should be going back” to Gaza.
Speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions, Starmer said: “I have from the last few weeks, two images fixed in my mind: the first is the image of Emily Damari reunited with her mother, which I found extremely moving.
“The second was the image of thousands of Palestinians walking – literally walking – through the rubble to try to find their homes and their communities in Gaza.
“They must be allowed home. They must be allowed to rebuild, and we should be with them in that rebuild on the way to a two-state solution.”
Starmer was responding to a question from Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey who had said that “many of us were alarmed to hear President Trump speak about forcibly displacing 1.8 million people from Gaza”.
Sir Ed asked for reassurance that the “concerns on these dangerous statements from the president will be communicated to the White House directly and firmly”.
Asked if the PM supported Trump’s Gaza proposal, Downing Street said Palestinians “must be allowed to return home.”
On clear concerns that Trump’s plan breached international law, the spokesperson said this was a matter for the government to take advice over.
