Aid groups warn against aid drops as Gaza continues to starve
The United Nations says it has been unable to deliver and distribute urgently needed aid that's waiting at the border, because of Israeli restrictions and lack of safety.
This report by Zahra Warsame contains highly distressing images.
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The Guardian
20 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Keir Starmer to recall cabinet for emergency meeting on Gaza crisis
Keir Starmer will recall his cabinet from their summer break for an emergency meeting on the Gaza crisis this week as cross-party MPs warned his talks with Donald Trump provided a critical juncture in helping to resolve the conflict. Amid growing international horror over the situation on the ground in Gaza, he will urge the US president to take a tougher stance towards Israel and will push for ceasefire talks to resume, when they meet in Scotland on Monday. David Lammy, the UK foreign secretary, is also preparing to attend a UN conference on a two-state solution in New York this week at which the pathway to formally recognising a Palestinian state will be under discussion. Government sources insisted that formal recognition of Palestinian statehood was a matter of 'when, not if', with the Labour government under intense domestic pressure to take further action as UK public opinion hardens. Downing Street sources said the government would set out its next steps to help resolve the situation in the Middle East in the coming days, but gave scant details, risking fuelling further criticism of Starmer over his response. Government sources insisted the prime minister was 'unequivocal' in his concern over the scenes in Gaza and was 'horrified' at images of starvation, desperation and suffering of children and babies, as he called his cabinet back to Westminster. During his talks with Trump at his Turnberry golf course in Ayrshire, Starmer is expected to press the US president to use his influence over the Israeli government to push for a resumption of peace talks between Israel and Hamas, after talks ground to a standstill. The deal under discussion was expected to include a 60-day ceasefire, with aid supplies ramped up as conditions for a lasting truce were brokered, but the US and Israel withdrew their negotiation teams from Qatar on Thursday. Starmer is also coming under growing domestic pressure, including from his own cabinet and a third of Labour MPs, to formally recognise a Palestinian state. The government has disappointed many on its own side by saying this would only happen as part of a negotiated peace deal. In contrast, Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday that France would formally recognise a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly in September. UK government aides suggested France's move would be purely symbolic without a path towards peace, which diplomats are expected to discuss next week at the UN. Starmer is also expected to discuss progress in implementing the economic deal the UK has signed with the US, which slashes some of Trump's tariffs on cars, aluminium and steel, and which the UK hopes will be the first step towards a closer trading relationship. After meeting European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday, Trump announced the US and the EU had struck a trade deal that would impose tariffs of 15% on most imports from the bloc, and will have a major impact on the UK economy. However, MPs from across the Commons underlined the urgency of Starmer's talks with the US president for the people of Gaza as they called on the prime minister to press Trump to take a more hardline stance towards Israel on aid and a ceasefire. Emily Thornberry, chair of the influential foreign affairs select committee, told the Guardian: '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 ten 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, added: '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.' Palestinians in Gaza have reacted with wariness after Israel began a limited, daily pause in fighting in three populated areas of Gaza to allow what Benjamin Netanyahu described as a 'minimal' amount of aid into the territory. Scores of Palestinians have died of starvation in recent weeks in a crisis attributed by humanitarian organisations and the UN to Israel's blockade of almost all aid into the territory. Israel also said it would establish humanitarian corridors to allow the UN to deliver food and medicine to Gaza, as well as turn on the power to a desalination plant to provide water. David Lammy welcomed the resumption of humanitarian corridors in the enclave but called for access to supplies to be 'urgently' widened over the coming hours and days, saying that military pauses promised by Israel would not alone be enough to ease suffering in Gaza. 'This announcement alone cannot alleviate the needs of those desperately suffering in Gaza,' the foreign secretary said. 'We need a ceasefire that can end the war, for hostages to be released and aid to enter Gaza by land unhindered. 'Whilst airdrops will help to alleviate the worst of the suffering, land routes serve as the only viable and sustainable means of providing aid into Gaza. These measures must be fully implemented and further barriers on aid removed. The world is watching.' Britain 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 strip, and could in some cases harm civilians.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
UK's Starmer to convene cabinet meeting, most likely to discuss Gaza
LONDON, July 27 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will convene a cabinet meeting next week, a government source said on Sunday, most likely to discuss the situation in Gaza after coming under growing pressure to recognise a Palestinian state. The Financial Times, which initially reported the story, said ministers, currently in a summer recess until September 1, would reconvene to discuss Gaza. Starmer's office did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment. The recall comes after Starmer said on Friday the British government would recognise a Palestinian state only as part of a negotiated peace deal, disappointing many in his Labour Party who want him to follow France in taking swifter action. President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday France would recognise a Palestinian state, a plan that drew strong condemnation from Israel and the United States, after similar moves from Spain, Norway and Ireland last year. More than 220 members of parliament in the UK, mostly Labour members representing about a third of the House of Commons, wrote to Starmer on Friday urging him to recognise a Palestinian state. Successive British governments have said they will formally recognise a Palestinian state when the time is right, without setting a timetable or specifying the necessary conditions. Starmer's approach has been complicated by the arrival in Scotland on Friday of U.S. President Donald Trump, with whom he has built warm relations. In foreign policy terms, Britain has rarely diverged from the United States. Israel has been facing growing international criticism, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government rejects, over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Starmer faces task of persuading Trump to take different path on Gaza crisis
Moments after Air Force One touched down at Prestwick on Friday, for a trip in which politics will take as big a billing as golf, Donald Trump was asked about his relationship with Keir Starmer. 'I like your prime minister. He's slightly more liberal than I am, as you've probably heard. But he's a good man,' the US president told reporters. At a time when the UK wants Trump's ear on numerous weighty issues, his response to questions about the 'special relationship' will have given Downing Street some reassurance. But it has been hard won. Starmer has been clear since before Trump's re-election that he would work with him if it was in Britain's national interest. There have been uncomfortable moments, but so far his decision to align himself with the US president has broadly paid off. Most notable was the economic deal agreed by the two leaders which slashes some of Trump's tariffs on cars, aluminium and steel, and which – even though it is not yet fully implemented – the UK government hopes will be a first step towards a closer trading relationship. Starmer, along with other western allies, has also helped encourage Trump to shift his position on Ukraine. After initially siding with Vladimir Putin and appearing to blame Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the invasion, the US president now declares himself 'very unhappy' with his Russian counterpart. The prime minister now faces his toughest diplomatic task of all: trying to persuade Trump to take a different path on the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East. Even getting the issue on the agenda will not have been straightforward, with the White House not regarding Gaza as a priority. Trump is the only international leader whom the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, listens to – and even then, not all of the time – so getting the US president's ear at this precise moment is an opportunity not to be squandered. With international fury over the situation on the ground in Gaza growing, Starmer has also been under pressure domestically – from his cabinet, Labour MPs and increasingly the public – to take further action against Israel. Government advisers are defensive – citing what the UK has already done to hold Israel to account since Labour came to power – and promising further action will follow, even if it is not clear what that might constitute. They point to the UK restoring funding to the UN agency Unrwa, sanctioning far-right Israeli ministers and those who committed settler violence, breaking off trade negotiations with Israel, backing the legitimacy of the international criminal court and restricting arms licences to Israel (though not preventing them entirely). Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion The initial urgency is around humanitarian aid, with mass starvation spreading across Gaza, and Starmer will be hoping to persuade Trump that the situation on the ground will only worsen unless the Israelis fully lift their blockade of almost all aid into the territory. The longer-term prize, however, would be a ceasefire. Starmer will press Trump to revive ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, after the US and Israel withdrew their negotiation teams from Qatar last week. Getting them back round the table to agree a 60-day break from fighting is a prerequisite to a more permanent cessation of violence. The window of opportunity is narrow: the Israeli parliament is not sitting until October, which gives Netanyahu the cover he would need to agree a deal. But Starmer knows Trump is the only international figure who can put pressure on him to do so. Only at that point does Starmer feel the UK could follow France and formally recognise a Palestine state. No 10 insiders insist it is a 'matter of when, not if' and David Lammy, the foreign secretary, will be at a UN conference this week to establish a pathway to formal recognition. To the deep frustration of many in his party, the prime minister last week rejected a call to follow France in recognising Palestine amid concerns the move would be largely symbolic without a ceasefire in place, and that issue could overshadow the talks with Trump. But that means that even more rides on Monday's meeting with the US president. It will be a test of whether the energy put into maintaining a good relationship with Trump has been worth it. And it will also show how far Starmer really is prepared to push to help bring an end to the catastrophe in Gaza.
