Keir Starmer set to push Donald Trump for new Israel and Hamas ceasefire talks
Keir Starmer is expected to press Donald Trump on the revival of ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas as the UK joins efforts to airdrop aid into Gaza.
The Prime Minister will travel to meet the US president during his five-day visit to Scotland amid mounting global anger over the humanitarian conditions in the war-torn enclave.
Ceasefire talks in Qatar ground to a halt this week after America and Israel withdrew negotiating teams from the country, with US special envoy Steve Witkoff accusing Hamas of a "lack of desire" to reach an agreement.
The deal under discussion was hoped to include a 60-day ceasefire, and aid supplies would be ramped up as conditions for a lasting truce were brokered.
Sir Keir will raise Washington's work with partners in Qatar and Egypt during his talks with Trump and attempt to discuss what more can be done to urgently bring about a ceasefire, it is understood.
They will also chat about the recently agreed US-UK trade deal and the war in Ukraine.
The UK is working with Jordan to airdrop aid into Gaza and evacuate children needing medical assistance, with military planners deployed for further support.
However, the head of the UN's Palestinian refugee agency has warned that such efforts are "a distraction" that will fail to properly address deepening starvation in the Gaza strip, and could in some cases lead to civilians being harmed.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said: "A manmade hunger can only be addressed by political will.
"Lift the siege, open the gates and guarantee safe movements and dignified access to people in need."
Israel has now said it will pause fighting in three populated areas of Gaza and establish humanitarian corridors to enable UN convoys to transport aid to desperate Palestinian citizens, as well as allowing airdrops.
In a statement, the country's military said it would enable "safe movement of deliveries of food and medicine" but that it "emphasises that combat operations have not ceased".
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) also said that there was "no starvation" in Gaza, despite increasing accounts of malnutrition and starvation-related deaths.
Speaking to broadcasters on Sunday, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury James Murray acknowledged that airdrops come with "real limits and drawbacks" but that the situation was "desperate and urgent."
"Until the restrictions are lifted, until aid is able to get in at the scale and quantity that is needed, we need to be doing everything we possibly can to help," he told Sky News' Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips show.
He declined to say whether he was confident that Israel's promise to allow UN convoys to reach Gaza would help to feed its population.
"Let's see what happens with that," the minister said.
"What we are not going to lose sight of is the importance of lifting restrictions on aid getting in so that it can get in at the quantity that is needed to make sure that we can move things forward."
Sir Keir will chair a Cabinet meeting next week and is expected to present a UK peace plan to allies, with Foreign Secretary David Lammy due to attend a UN conference on a two-state solution in New York in the coming days.
He also held talks with French and German counterparts on Saturday, during which Number 10 said they agreed "it would be vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently-needed ceasefire into lasting peace".
A Downing Street readout of the call made no mention of Palestinian statehood, which Sir Keir has faced calls to immediately recognise after French President Emmanuel Macron announced his country would do so in September.
Some 221 MPs from Labour, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, SNP, Greens, Plaid Cymru, SDLP and independents have signed a letter pressuring the Government to follow suit at a UN meeting next week.
The majority of those who have signed, 131, are Labour MPs. The Government says it is a question of "when, not if" statehood is recognised but that its immediate focus should be on getting aid into the territory.
Mr Murray said on Sunday: "As a Government, we're committed to the recognition of Palestine, but we need to work with international partners and we need to use that moment to galvanise change.
"It needs to be part of a pathway to peace."
Sir Keir and Mr Trump, who is in South Ayrshire on a private visit to his Turnberry golf course, are expected to meet on Monday.
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