Starmer to break government's summer recess to discuss Gaza

(Patria) - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will call his cabinet from summer recess to discuss the situation in Gaza, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, amid growing pressure on the Labour government to recognise a Palestinian state, Reuters reported.

The newspaper states that the move to convene his cabinet of ministers next week was put forward by Downing Street on Sunday. The British Parliament and cabinet are currently on summer recess until September 1. This comes after Starmer said on Friday that the British government would recognise a Palestinian state only as part of an agreed peace deal, disappointing many in his Labour Party who want him to follow France in taking quicker action.

President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that France would recognise a Palestinian state, a plan that has drawn sharp condemnation from Israel and the United States, following similar moves by Spain, Norway, and Ireland last year.

More than 220 members of parliament in the United Kingdom, representing about a third of the
House of Commons and mostly Labour, wrote to Starmer on Friday urging him to recognise
a Palestinian state.

The British government has stated that it will formally recognise a Palestinian state when the time is right, without setting any timeframe or specifying the necessary conditions.

Starmer's approach to this issue is complicated by the arrival of US President Donald Trump in Scotland on Friday, with whom he has built a warm relationship. In foreign policy terms, the UK has rarely diverged from the US.

Israel is facing increasing international criticism, which Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's government rejects, over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where images of starving Palestinians have disturbed the world.