Starmer calls emergency Gaza talks with France and Germany

Sir Keir Starmer will hold emergency talks with France and Germany on Gaza after condemning the "suffering and starvation" there as "unspeakable and indefensible". The Prime Minister said the situation has been "grave" for some time but has "reached new depths".

The announcement comes as aid groups warn of starvation in the Gaza Strip and the US said it was cutting short ceasefire talks. Sir Keir is also under increasing pressure to fulfil Labour's promise to recognise Palestine as a state.

Emergency talks planned with allies

"The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible," the Prime Minister said. "While the situation has been grave for some time, it has reached new depths and continues to worsen. We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe."

Sir Keir said he will hold an emergency call with E3 partners tomorrow to discuss what can be done urgently to stop the killing and get people the food they desperately need. He called for Israel to change course and allow aid to enter Gaza without delay.

US cuts short ceasefire negotiations

The Prime Minister said it is "hard to see a hopeful future in such dark times" but called again for all sides to engage "in good faith, and at pace" on a ceasefire and the release of all hostages. He strongly supported efforts by the US, Qatar and Egypt to secure this.

Steve Witkoff, the Trump administration's special envoy, said on Thursday the US was cutting short Gaza ceasefire talks and sending home its negotiating team. He said Hamas's latest response "shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza".

Palestinian statehood recognition debate

The deal under discussion is expected to include a 60-day ceasefire in which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 others in phases in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Aid supplies would be ramped up and the two sides would hold negotiations on a lasting truce.

Sir Keir said on Thursday that a ceasefire would provide a pathway to recognising a Palestinian state, as he faces calls to do so immediately. "We are clear that statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people," he said.

Government faces mounting pressure

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said earlier that the Government was "deeply committed" to recognition but that such a move would need to be "meaningful". He told LBC Radio there is currently no political agreement between the two principal Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza.

French President Emmanuel Macron pressed for recognition of Palestinian statehood in a recent address to the UK's Parliament, saying it was the "only path to peace". Labour's London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has piled pressure on Sir Keir to "immediately recognise Palestinian statehood".

Humanitarian crisis deepens

The Trades Union Congress called for formal recognition of Palestine "not in a year's time or two years' time - but now". Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has called for the Royal Air Force to carry out airdrops of aid into Gaza.

More than 100 organisations, including Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children, have put their names to an open letter saying they were watching their own colleagues, as well as the Palestinians they serve, "waste away". The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, described the situation in Gaza as "a stain on the conscience of the international community".

Hamas-led militants based in Gaza abducted 251 people in the October 7 attack in 2023 that triggered the war and killed about 1,200 people. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages still in Gaza are believed to be alive.

(PA) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.