Vance says US, UK share same end goal in Gaza in meeting with British foreign secretary

Vice President JD Vance on Friday told reporters during his overseas trip to England that the United States and the United Kingdom differ on how to approach the situation in Gaza but that both countries have the same end goal.

Vance is currently visiting the United Kingdom ahead of his first family vacation as vice president. The trip includes a meeting with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and a visit to Scotland that comes weeks after President Donald Trump visited the country. 

The vice president acknowledged the differences between the UK's approach to Gaza and the United States' approach, including in recognizing Palestine as an independent state, according to the New York Times. 

“We have no plans to recognize a Palestinian state,” Vance said. “I don’t know what it would really mean to recognize a Palestinian state, given the lack of a functional government there.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently announced his country would recognize Palestinian statehood at the United Nations' General Assembly next month.

Vance said despite the differences in acknowledging Palestine, the two countries agree that the humanitarian aid crisis in Gaza needs to end as quickly as possible.

"We may have some disagreements about how to accomplish that goal, and we’ll talk about that today," Vance said.

The vice president also confirmed that the Trump administration has been aggressively working to fix the situation in Gaza.

“[The U.S. has been in] constant negotiations and conversations, even the last 24 hours, about how to get more aid into Gaza, about how to solve that humanitarian problem, and also how to get Hamas to a position where they can’t continue to threaten the citizens and the civilians of Israel," Vance said, per Politico. 

The comments come less than 24-hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel plans to launch a takeover of Gaza City to liberate it from Hamas. The country would then give control of the city to Arab forces, but not to Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.