U.K. Will Recognize a Palestinian State in September, Barring Israel-Hamas Cease-Fire

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/world/europe/uk-palestinian-statehood.html

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

Mr. 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.

Mr. 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 cease-fire and accept that it will have no role in governing Gaza.

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

“The situation is simply intolerable,” Mr. Starmer said on 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.”