UK’s Keir Starmer is under pressure from MPs while Italy’s Giorgia Meloni said she was in favour but not prior to the state being established
European nations are becoming split on the question of whether to recognise a Palestinian state, as the desperate situation in Gaza continues.
Britain’s prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has rejected calls to immediately recognise a Palestinian state, after some 221 MPs signed a letter urging the British Government to recognise the state of Palestine at a meeting of the UN next week. While the PM said he was “unequivocal” about wanting to see a Palestinian state, he insisted this needed to be part of a “wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis”.
The Israeli military said a “projectile” was fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel on Saturday. “A projectile was identified crossing the Gaza Strip from the south and most likely falling in an open area,” the military said in a statement, adding that there were no injuries reported.
Four Palestinian-Americans have been killed in the occupied West Bank since the war in Gaza began and their families are losing hope for justice. They told AP Israel and its law enforcement have made them feel like culprits – by imposing travel bans and, in some cases, detaining and interrogating them.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday his government was considering “alternative options” to ceasefire talks with Hamas after Israel and the US recalled their negotiating teams, throwing the future of the negotiations into further uncertainty. Netanyahu’s statement came as a Hamas official said negotiations were expected to resume next week and portrayed the recall of the Israeli and American delegations as a pressure tactic.