UK Prime Minister Starmer announces ready to join France in recognizing Palestinian state

United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Tuesday that he is ready to recognize a Palestinian state with France at the United Nations in September.

Starmer said that the UK could recognize Palestine as a state as soon as the UN General Assembly in September, unless Israel takes “substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza,” The Times reported.

The prime minister's office said in a statement that Starmer “said that because of the increasingly intolerable situation in Gaza and the diminishing prospect of a peace process towards a two-state solution, now was the right time to move this position forward.

“He said that the UK will recognise the state of Palestine in September, before UNGA, unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, reaches a ceasefire, makes clear there will be no annexation in the West Bank, and commits to a long-term peace process that delivers a two-state solution," the statement continued.

“He reiterated that there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas and that our demands on Hamas remain, that they must release all the hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, accept that they will play no role in the government of Gaza, and disarm.”

A third of Labour Party members of parliament and Starmer's Cabinet members have been pushing for the immediate recognition of Palestine.

Starmer recalled his Cabinet from the summer parliamentary recess to discuss aid to Gaza and state recognition at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

His spokesman said earlier that the plan will come later this week and would build “on the collaboration to date that paves the way to a long-term solution on security in the region.”

“The Prime Minister will be presenting that plan to other key allies, including the US and Arab states, over the coming days, and indeed convening Cabinet this week. You can expect to see more coming out of that,” the spokesman added.

The U.S. State Department on Monday condemned a United Nations conference on a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, deeming it "unproductive and ill-timed" amid ongoing efforts to end the fighting in Gaza.

This occurred the same day that President Trump was asked about the UK parliament last week calling for the immediate recognition of a Palestinian state.

“I’m not going to take a position, I don’t mind him [the prime minister] taking a position. I’m looking for getting people fed right now,” Trump said.

French President Emmanuel Macron is planning to recognize Palestine as a state.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized Macron's decision on Thursday, calling it "reckless," adding that it "only serves Hamas propaganda and sets back peace."