𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry has reported another seven deaths from famine and malnutrition in the last day.

The total death toll from a lack of food since the war broke out in October 2023 is now at 154, including 89 children.

Keir Starmer said Gaza needs at least 500 aid trucks daily to reverse the unfolding famine.

Yesterday ground reports said 109 aid trucks entered Gaza but did not reach their destination as they were looted after crossing the border.

UN agencies noted an improvement in Israeli authorities blocking aid but said they are still facing obstacles.

Now, the Israeli military body co-ordinating aid going into Gaza, Cogat, has claimed more than 220 aid lorries entered on Tuesday and are “awaiting collection and distribution”.

Cogat added that more than 200 lorries were collected and distributed yesterday.

France and Saudi Arabia hosted the UN conference to work towards a two-state solution between Israel and Palestinians.

The seven-page declaration called for:

• An end to the the 22-month war in the Gaza Strip

• Immediately establish a transitional administrative in Gaza under the umbrella of the Palestinian Authority, which currently exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank under Israeli occupation

• The deployment of a temporary international stabilisation mission, mandated by the U.N. Security Council

• Issue a clear public commitment to the two-state solution, including a sovereign and viable Palestinian State

• To immediately end violence and incitement against Palestinians

• To halt all settlement, land grabs, and annexation activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem.

• A UN-backed food security monitor yesterday alerted that a ‘worst-case famine scenario’ is unfolding in Gaza

• Israel’s foreign minister denied accusations that it’s withholding aid, claiming it is a “lie”

• The UK pledged to recognise Palestine as a state in September unless Israel took steps to end the war in Gaza, after Sir Keir Starmer convened an emergency cabinet meeting

• Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit back and accused Sir Keir of ‘rewarding Hamas’

• British charities and MPs also criticised the move, accusing Sir Keir of using Palestinian statehood as a ‘bargaining chip’

• Key Arab countries signed an unprecedented declaration, along with 14 other countries including Britain and France, telling Hamas to disarm and surrender control

France’s foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot has said the latest declaration is “both historic and unprecedented”.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt for the first time urged Hamas to disband to pave the way for a Palestinian state.

In an unprecedented move, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt have for the first time urged Hamas to disband to pave the way for a Palestinian state.

They signed a statement condemning the October 7 attacks and told Hamas to surrender control, along with 14 other countries, including Britain and France.

Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a furious response after Sir Keir Starmer pledged to recognise Palestine unless Israel takes urgent steps to end the war in Gaza, accusing the prime minister of “appeasing terrorists”.

Responding on social media, the Israeli prime minister said: “Starmer rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism and punishes its victims.”

Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters has said recognising a Palestinian state while hostages remain rewards terrorism in response to ‘growing European initiatives to recognise a Palestinian state’.

“Recognizing a Palestinian state while 50 hostages remain trapped in Hamas tunnels amounts to rewarding terrorism,” the Forum said.

“Such recognition is not a step toward peace, but rather a clear violation of international law and a dangerous moral and political failure that legitimizes horrific war crimes.”

Last year, Ireland, Norway and Spain recognised a Palestinian state with its borders to be demarcated as they were prior to the 1967 Middle East war, when Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

However, they also recognised that those borders may change in any eventual talks to reach a final settlement, and that their decisions did not diminish their belief in Israel’s fundamental right to exist in peace and security.

About 144 of the 193 member states of the United Nations recognise Palestine as a state, including most of the global south as well as Russia, China and India.

But only a handful of the 27 European Union members do so, mostly former Communist countries as well as Sweden and Cyprus.

The UN General Assembly approved the de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine in November 2012 by upgrading its observer status at the world body to “non-member state” from “entity”.