U.K. will recognize Palestinian Statehood in September, barring Israel-Hamas ceasefire

LONDON – Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Tuesday that Britain would recognize the state of Palestine in September if Israel does not agree to a ceasefire with Hamas, pouring pressure on the Israeli government to halt a war that has put the Gaza Strip on the brink of famine.

Starmer’s announcement, which came after an emergency meeting of his Cabinet, is a sharp, if not wholly unexpected, shift in his position, reflecting the intense political pressure his government has faced as the public and lawmakers in his own Labour Party recoil from images of starving children in Gaza.

Starmer cast Palestinian recognition as part of a broader European effort to end the almost two-year conflict between Israel and Hamas. He reiterated that Hamas must release its remaining hostages, sign up to a ceasefire and accept that it will have no role in governing Gaza.

Starmer’s move was aimed at Israel, and it dramatized how swiftly sentiment about the war has changed among Western countries. France announced last week that it would recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

“The situation is simply intolerable,” Starmer said Tuesday. “I am particularly concerned that the very idea of a two-state solution is reducing and feels further away today than it has for many years.”

Starmer said the Israeli government must agree not to annex the occupied West Bank and to commit to a peace process that would result in a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

These are demands that Israel is highly unlikely to accept under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government.

On Tuesday, the Israeli leader condemned Britain’s announcement in a social media post.

Starmer’s move rewards “Hamas monstrous terrorism & punishes its victims,” Netanyahu said.

Starmer had been ambivalent about recognizing a Palestinian state now, two senior British officials told the New York Times, in part because he viewed it as a “performative” gesture that would not change the situation on the ground and could, in fact, complicate efforts to negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

But a chorus of warnings about rising starvation in Gaza changed his calculation.