Scottish National Party to 'force a vote' on recognising State of Palestine
The party, which pushes for the independence of Scotland, said it would table a "Palestine Recognition Bill" when the UK parliament returns after its summer recess if Mr Starmer did not change his position.
The prime minister has committed to recognising Palestinian statehood but said it must be part of a peace process in the Middle East.
The SNP threat comes after more than 220 British MPs, including dozens from Mr Starmer's ruling Labour party, demanded Friday that the UK government follow France and recognise a Palestinian state.
The call, in a letter signed by lawmakers from nine UK political parties, came less than 24 hours after French President Emmanuel Macron said that his country would formally do so at a UN meeting in September.
"Unless Keir Starmer stops blocking UK recognition of Palestine, the SNP will introduce a Palestine Recognition Bill when Parliament returns in September and force a vote if necessary," said Stephen Flynn, SNP's leader in the UK parliament.
"Keir Starmer must stop defending the indefensible, finally find a backbone and demand that Israel ends its war now," he added.
If France formally recognises a Palestinian state it would be the first G7 country - and the most powerful European nation to date - to make the move.
Mr Starmer has come under rising domestic and international pressure over recognising Palestinian statehood, as opposition intensifies to the ongoing war in Gaza amid fears of mass starvation there.
The UK leader yesterday spoke to his French and German counterparts and outlined UK plans to airdrop aid to people in Gaza and evacuate sick and injured children, his office said.
The SNP holds nine seats in the 650-seat UK parliament.
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RTÉ News
2 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Israeli forces kill at least 30 seeking aid in Gaza
At least 30 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while waiting for food at a crossing in Gaza, the civil defence agency in the territory has said. "At least 30 martyrs were killed ... waiting for aid north of Gaza City," civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said, adding that more than 300 were wounded. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, said his facility received 35 bodies of people killed in the shooting. The shooting reportedly happened near the coast, about three kilometres southwest of the Zikim crossing point for aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip from the north. The latest violence around aid distribution came as the US Middle East envoy was heading to Israel for talks. Israeli strikes and gunfire had earlier killed at least 46 Palestinians overnight and into today, most of them among crowds seeking food, health officials said. Israel has come under mounting international pressure in recent days as its ongoing military offensive and blockade have led to the "worst-case scenario of famine" in the coastal territory of some two million Palestinians, according to the leading international authority on hunger crises. Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said that it received 12 people who were killed last night when Israeli forces opened fire towards crowds awaiting aid trucks coming from the Zikim Crossing. Thirteen others were killed in strikes in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp, and the northern towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, the hospital said. In the southern city of Khan Younis, Nasser Hospital said it received the bodies of 16 people who it says were killed yesterday evening while waiting for aid trucks close to the newly built Morag corridor, which the Israeli military carved out between Khan Younis and the southernmost city of Rafah. The hospital received another body of a man killed in a strike on a tent in Khan Younis, it said. The Awda hospital in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp said that it received the bodies of four Palestinians. It said they were killed today by Israeli fire close to an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in the Netzarim corridor area, south of the Wadi Gaza. Seven more people die of malnutrition The continued killings come as another seven people, including one child, died of malnutrition-related causes, according to Gaza health officials. A total of 89 children have died of malnutrition since the current stage of the war began in Gaza. The ministry said 65 Palestinian adults have also died of malnutrition-related causes across Gaza since late June, when it started counting deaths among adults. Hundreds of Palestinians gathered in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya yesterday, hoping to secure a bag of flour or some aid, amid worsening humanitarian conditions. A global hunger monitor said yesterday that a famine scenario was unfolding in Gaza, with malnutrition soaring, children under five dying of hunger-related causes and humanitarian access severely restricted. The alert by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) raised the prospect that the man-made starvation crisis in Gaza could be formally classified as a famine, in the hope that this might raise the pressure on Israel to let in far more food. With the international furore over Gaza's ordeal growing, Israel announced steps over the weekend to ease aid access. But the UN World Food Programme said yesterday it was not getting the permissions it needed to deliver enough aid since Israel began humanitarian pauses in warfare on Sunday. Images of emaciated Palestinian children have shocked the world, with Israel's strongest ally, US President Donald Trump, declaring that many people were starving. He promised to set up new "food centres". Meanwhile, Executive Director at UNICEF Ireland Peter Power has said there is "not a shred of evidence" that aid in Gaza is being withheld by Hamas. Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said that aid organisations "were not in the business of giving humanitarian assistance to terrorists". "I think that trope has been widely debunked at this stage; it's simply not true. Not a shred of evidence has been produced to back that up," he said. Mr Power said UN agencies and other trusted humanitarian organisations have been doing this for around 80 years now and are guided by the "highest principles of humanitarian delivery". "They're not in the business of giving food or other humanitarian assistance to terrorists, and the all the briefings I've received from our own people it tells me, definitively, that that has not happened and that sort of accusation should not be made." He added that 5,000 children in Gaza were severely malnourished and at risk of dying. "In Gaza City, where I've visited, 16.3% of the children are severely acutely malnourished. When a child is severely acutely malnourished, they're at real risk of dying," he said. "We have diagnosed 5,000 children in that category who need urgent medical assistance, but there are hundreds of thousands or more, of course, who are malnourished." Every day, 200 children present at their malnutrition centres with acute malnutrition, he said. Mr Power described the aid airdrops into Gaza as "tokenistic", as it was far short of what was required. "Obviously, any aid whatsoever is welcome. But I should say that airdrops are really tokenistic. "Each parachute can only drop one or two pallets, and a number of pallets would fill a truck. "We need 500 trucks a day, that's what the United Nations system was bringing in during the ceasefire." More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 2023. The current stage of the war began on 7 October 2023 when Hamas militants stormed across the border into Israeli communities. Israel says the militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 people into captivity in Gaza.
The Irish Sun
4 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Ireland joins countries calling for immediate Gaza ceasefire & two-state solution amid ‘urgent humanitarian aid' calls
IRELAND has joined 14 countries in calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the implementation of a two-state solution. Junior Minister Emer Higgins represented 3 Junior Minister Emer Higgins represented Ireland at an international conference in New York On the back of this meeting, 14 countries including Ireland agreed to send out a joint statement calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of This would see two democratic states in Israel and The countries that came together to back the statement include: Andorra, Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Slovenia and Spain. Tanaiste READ MORE IN IRISH NEWS The Foreign Affairs Minister said: 'The international community demands an immediate ceasefire and hostage release deal and urgent humanitarian aid for Gaza, and is ready to take concrete steps to implement the two-State solution. 'Ireland is doubling down on our commitment to achieve a just, lasting peace where Israelis and Palestinians live side by side in peace and security. We will continue to do all in our power to work for that peace.' On October 7, 2023, the Hamas Israel has since bombarded Gaza in a military campaign that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. Most read in The Irish Sun The Israeli Defence Forces have also blocked aid from getting into Gaza which has left people including children to starve to death. The joint statement from the 14 countries agreed at the New York conference makes a series of calls including for a ceasefire, release of hostages and the implementation of a two-state solution. DOUBLING DOWN The Foreign Ministers also expressed grave concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and called for the United Nations and its aid agencies to be allowed in to help people. The statement adds that the Ministers: 'Have already recognised, have expressed or express the willingness or the positive consideration of our countries to recognise the state of Palestine, as an essential step towards the two-state solution, and invite all countries that have not done so to join this call. 'Urge countries who have not done so yet to establish normal relations with Israel, and to express their willingness to enter into discussions on the regional integration of the state of Israel; 'Express our determination to work on an architecture for the 'day after' in Gaza which guarantees the reconstruction of Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and its exclusion from the Palestinian governance.' 3 The war in Gaza has been ongoing for nearly two years Credit: Getty Images - Getty 3 Tanaiste Simon Harris signed a letter on Ireland's behalf calling for a ceasefire and two-state solution Credit: PA Media, All Rights Reserved
Irish Independent
5 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Emmanuel Macron says EU wasn't 'feared' in trade talks with Donald Trump
"Europe doesn't yet see itself sufficiently as a power," the French leader said at a cabinet meeting Wednesday. "To be free, you have to be feared. We haven't been feared enough." The EU agreed on Sunday to accept a 15pc tariff on most of its exports to the US, while the bloc's average tariff rate on American goods should drop below 1pc once the deal goes into effect. The bloc's trade chief, Maros Sefcovic, conceded that it was "the best deal we could get under very difficult circumstances." The French president said the agreement isn't the "end of the story" and negotiations on the deal will continue. "France has always taken a firm and demanding stance," he said, and it would continue to do so. The European Union is pushing to get more exemptions from the 15pc tariff agreed with the US this week, with wines and spirits a top priority. The EU and US are expected to release a joint statement by August 1 that will expand on the elements already negotiated â€' but will have no legal force. Once that statement is released, the two sides will begin negotiating a legally binding trade accord. It's unclear what form the final agreement will take, but if they aim for a fully formed free trade deal, then it could potentially take years to negotiate. Several French government officials have already expressed dissatisfaction with the deal. "It is a dark day when an alliance of free peoples, united to affirm their values and defend their interests, resolves to submission," French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said July 28 in a social media post. However, speaking after meeting Wednesday with business leaders in France, Finance Minister Eric Lombard struck a somewhat less negative tone when describing the accord. "I am not sure that we could have reached a better agreement using other methods," he said, adding that some sectors may in the end benefit from a zero-tariff scenario. The deal has created an awkward situation for Europe's leaders, who need to explain to domestic audiences why domestic products will be at a disadvantage to American goods. This has opened up an avenue of attack for far-right parties that are already skeptical of the EU's bureaucracy. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen criticized the agreement, lambasting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who announced the accord on Sunday with President Donald Trump. "The trade agreement concluded by Ursula von der Leyen with Donald Trump is a political, economic, and moral fiasco," Le Pen wrote on social media. "The least that could be done is to acknowledge this stinging failure rather than asking the French, who will be its first victims, to rejoice in it."
