Starmer to recall cabinet for emergency meeting on Gaza

Telegraph

9 hours ago

Sir Keir Starmer is set to recall cabinet ministers from their summer breaks for an emergency meeting on Gaza, according to reports.
The Government is under intense pressure from Labour MPs over its stance on the Israel-Gaza war as the humanitarian situation in the strip worsens.
Images of starvation have led to growing condemnation of Israel and calls for a ceasefire have intensified.
Sources told The Guardian of the Cabinet recall as they insisted the Prime Minister is 'horrified' by images of starving civilians.
They also told the newspaper that formally recognising a Palestinian state was a matter of 'when not if', days after French president Emmanuel Macron said he would use a speech in September to recognise Palestine.
Sir Keir is expected to push Donald Trump to take a tougher stance against Israel when they meet at the president's Turnberry golf course in Scotland later on Monday.
David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, will also attend a conference on the two-state solution in New York this week where the pathway to a Palestinian state is expected to be discussed.
Talks on a Gaza ceasefire have come to a standstill in recent days after the US accused Hamas of acting in bad faith.
Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump's Middle East envoy, announced on Thursday that the US was bringing home its negotiators, saying Hamas 'clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire'.
He added the US would now 'consider alternative options to bring the hostages home', without clarifying what they would be.
A ramping up of aid supplies and the return of more Israeli hostages were expected to form part of any truce.
Angela Rayner is leading attempts in cabinet to persuade Sir Keir to formally recognise Palestine and a third of backbench Labour MPs have also pressed the Prime Minister to back the move.
He has previously disappointed them by insisting any recognition would have to come at a time when it would be most beneficial to any peace process.
He said on Thursday that Palestinians have an 'inalienable right' to a state of their own.
Pressure on Sir Keir is likely to intensify after Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana launched a new hard-Left party to challenge Sir Keir.
The pair have accused the Government of enabling genocide and are expected to link up with several independent pro-Gaza MPs.
Last week, a committee of MPs said Sir Keir should 'immediately' recognise a Palestinian state 'while there is still a state to recognise'.
The recommendation was made by Parliament's foreign affairs committee, led by Dame Emily Thornberry, the veteran Labour MP, in a new report on the Gaza conflict.
She told The Guardian of the talks: 'Netanyahu only listens to Trump, and even then only sometimes. But somebody has to talk to the Israelis and nothing is going to move in this awful situation without him.
'Trump needs to hear that he has the strength of 10 presidents, that only he can get a ceasefire.
'But it's high risk for Keir as it could anger him and it's not even clear whether it would work. But he has to try, this is the moment it has to be done.
'Trump also needs to hear that allies, including the UK, French and Saudis, are prepared to work together to put together peace proposals but they will only work if they result in two states: Israel and Palestine.'
Conservative MP Kit Malthouse, a former cabinet minister and critic of Israel, told the newspaper: 'Every moment of inaction is a deliberate choice. These two leaders hold the power to end the starvation and killings in Gaza, to halt the violence in the West Bank, and to bring the hostages home with a permanent ceasefire.
'If they fail to act, history will not only remember the atrocities, it will remember that they had the means to stop them and chose not to.'
Critics of immediate recognition have said that it should not happen until Hamas is removed from any leadership role in Gaza and all Israeli hostages are released.
Israel's government has characterised any recognition by the UK and France as a 'reward' for Hamas's Oct 7 2023 atrocities.