Keir Starmer has confirmed the government will be “taking forward” plans to airdrop aid into Gaza and evacuate children who need medical assistance in an effort to relieve what Downing Street called an appalling situation.
Speaking to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, on Saturday morning, the prime minister outlined the UK’s intentions to work with Jordan to carry out the plans.
The three leaders agreed to work closely together on a plan to “pave the way to a long-term solution and security in the region”.
A No 10 spokesperson said: “The three leaders talked about the situation in Gaza, which they agreed is appalling, and emphasised the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire, for Israel to lift all restrictions on aid and urgently provide those suffering in Gaza with the food they so desperately need.
“The prime minister set out how the UK will also be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance.
“They all agreed it would be vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently needed ceasefire into lasting peace.
“They discussed their intention to work closely together on a plan, building on their collaboration to date, which would pave the way to a long-term solution and security in the region.”
Global condemnation has been growing over Israel’s blockade of most aid with reports of starvation and widespread malnutrition in Gaza. Health officials in the strip recorded 43 deaths from hunger over three days this week. There had previously been 68 in total.
Médecins Sans Frontières said on Friday that the severe malnutrition rate among children aged under five at its Gaza City clinic had tripled in the last two weeks. The Guardian reported this week that skeletal children were filling hospital wards, and the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) said his frontline staff were fainting from hunger.
The UK joined 27 other countries in issuing a joint statement earlier this week condemning Israel for depriving Palestinians of “human dignity” as they issued a call for the immediate lifting of restrictions on the flow of aid and an end to the war in Gaza.
They also described proposals by the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, to move 600,000 Palestinians to a so-called “humanitarian city” in Rafah, an area that has been heavily damaged by Israeli bombing, as “completely unacceptable”.
The Israeli foreign ministry rejected the joint statement hours later, saying it was “disconnected from reality”.
David Mencer, an Israeli government spokesperson, told Sky News on Wednesday: “There is no famine in Gaza. There is a famine of the truth.”
The Israeli military announced on Friday that it had agreed to let Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdrop aid into Gaza. Each flight carrying aid is far more expensive and holds fewer supplies than lorries do.
The announcement comes as Starmer faces intense pressure from his most senior cabinet ministers and more than a third of MPs to move faster on recognising a Palestinian state.
The deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, the health secretary, Wes Streeting, the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, and the Northern Ireland secretary, Hilary Benn, are among those understood to believe the government should take the lead on Palestinian statehood alongside France.
The foreign secretary, David Lammy, faced questions on Monday from dozens of furious MPs across the house who called on the UK government to do more, including recognition of a Palestinian state.
Kit Malthouse, a Conservative MP, said he was “frankly astonished” by Lammy’s statement “at a time when we’ve got daily lynchings and expulsions on the West Bank [and] dozens being murdered as they beg for aid”.
He said he was “just beyond words really at [Lammy’s] inaction, and frankly, complicity by inaction at what is going on”, which he said carried the “personal risk” of ending up at The Hague.
Lammy said he understood “the fury that [Malthouse] feels”, to which Malthouse shouted back: “Why don’t you feel it?”