Sir Keir Starmer was tonight accused of 'rewarding Hamas' after announcing that Britain will recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel ends the 'appalling' crisis in Gaza.
The Prime Minister hosted an urgent Cabinet meeting this afternoon as he seeks to set out a pathway to peace following a major intervention yesterday by Donald Trump.
Sir Keir told the meeting of his top ministers on Tuesday that the UK will recognise the state of Palestine in September before the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
This is 'unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza', the PM added.
Sir Keir said this included Israel reaching a ceasefire, making clear there will be no annexation in the West Bank, and committing to a long-term peace process that delivers a two-state solution.
The PM said now was 'the moment to act' on recognition of a Palestinian state due to the 'increasingly intolerable situation in Gaza'.
Sir Keir 'reiterated that there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas' and that Britain's demands on Hamas remain, Downing Street said in a readout of the Cabinet meeting.
This includes the terror group - who carried out brutal attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023 - releasing all remaining hostages, signing up to a ceasefire, accepting they will play no role in the government of Gaza, and disarming themselves.
But Israel reacted with fury to Sir Keir's announcement and accused the PM of bowing to 'internal political pressures'.
'The shift in the British government's position at this time... constitutes a reward for Hamas and harms efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of hostages,' Israel's ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir was guilty of 'political posturing at its very worst'.
'Recognising a Palestinian state won't bring the hostages home, won't end the war and won't get aid into Gaza,' she said.
'When the country is looking for answers on asylum hotels, the cost of living is getting worse, and doctors are threatening to go on strike again - further endangering lives, it's disgraceful that Keir Starmer recalled his Cabinet to try and sort out a political problem for the Labour Party.'
Elsewhere, the PM was condemned for 'trying to bounce Israel' with action that 'risks emboldening Hamas'.
Pro-Palestinian campaigners were also critical of Sir Keir for using recognition of statehood as 'a bargaining chip'.
Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, a trade envoy for the Israeli government, said Sir Keir's 'performative' intervention would have 'zero significance'.
Lord Walney, the ex-Labour MP who is also the Government's former independent adviser on political violence and disruption, accused Sir Keir of a 'major misstep'.
'Everyone is concerned by the appalling humanitarian situation in Gaza but this is a major misstep that risks emboldening Hamas,' he said.
'The Government should think again - it is wrong and counterproductive to heap pressure on Israel when Hamas terrorists are thwarting aid delivery and continuing the grotesque war crime of withholding living and dead hostages from Israeli families.
'The two-state solution we all want will only be achieved through negotiation between Israelis and Palestinians - trying to bounce Israel will just see Britain shut out of the conversation.'
A Reform UK spokesman said: 'Recognising Palestine as a state does little more than reward Hamas for their actions on October 7.
'This decision is being made at the wrong time and is a knee-jerk reaction by Keir Starmer to appease the hard-Left forces inside and outside of his party.'
Earlier in the day, before Sir Keir's announcement, Mrs Badenoch told Talk that recognising Palestine now would be 'yet another gimmick' to appease Labour MPs.
'Let's say we give statehood and then what? Does the problem disappear? No, it doesn't. It doesn't fix anything at all,' the Conservative leader said.
'He is doing this to solve a political problem because a lot of people in his cabinet want statehood for Palestine.
'They are student campaigners, lifelong campaigners. This is the sort of stuff that they like.
'And he's dealing with an internal party problem rather than dealing with the problems of this country.'
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey demanded the PM listen to MPs in Parliament and 'recognise Palestine right away'.
He also warned Sir Keir that recognition of statehood shouldn't be used as a 'bargaining chip'.
Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader who has recently set up a new left-wing party, said: 'Palestinian statehood is not a bargaining chip. It is not a threat.
'It is an inalienable right of the Palestinian people.
'Our demands on this shameful government remain the same: end all arms sales to Israel, impose widespread sanctions, and stop the genocide, now.'
Speaking in Downing Street following this afternoon's emergency Cabinet meeting, Sir Keir said the recent images from Gaza 'will stay with us for a lifetime'.
'We see starving babies, children too weak to stand... the suffering must end,' the PM added.
In a stern message to Israel, Sir Keir said he wanted to see 'at least 500 trucks entering Gaza every day'.
But he added that 'the only way to bring this humanitarian crisis to an end is through a long-term settlement'.
The PM continued: 'I've always said we will recognise a Palestinian state as a contribution to a proper peace process, at the moment of maximum impact for the two-state solution.
'With that solution now under threat, this is the moment to act.'
Sir Keir said the Government would 'make an assessment' in September on how far Israel and Hamas 'have met these steps', but warned: 'No one should have a veto on our decision'.
The PM said the Government's decision was made in part because of 'the concern that the very possibility of a two-state solution is reducing'.
Asked why the recognition was conditional and how confident he was that a ceasefire could be reached by September, Sir Keir said: 'Well, the primary aim here is to change the situation on the ground for people who desperately need change.
'We need a ceasefire. We need always to keep in our mind the hostages and the atrocity of October 7th, and they must be immediately released.
'They've been held a very, very long time. But also we need alongside that to ensure that we get aid in at volume and in speed into Gaza because the situation is simply intolerable.
'And this is intended to further that course, and it is done now because 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, many years, and therefore, it should be seen in both of those contexts.'
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the UK bears a 'special burden of responsibility' to support the two-state solution as he announced the UK's plan to recognise Palestinian statehood at the United Nations in New York this evening.
'The situation on the ground continues to worsen and the two-state solution is in peril,' he told a UN conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Mr Lammy called Israel's rejection of a two-state solution morally and strategically wrong.
'The Netanyahu government's rejection of a two-state solution is wrong; it's wrong morally; and it's wrong strategically.
'It harms the interests of the Israeli people, closing off the only path to a just and lasting peace, and that is why we are determined to protect the viability of a two-state solution.
'And so it is with the hand of history on our shoulders that His Majesty's Government therefore intends to recognise the state of Palestine when the UN General Assembly gathers in September here in New York.'
The Foreign Secretary said the global community is 'deeply offended by children being shot and killed as they reach out for aid'.
He told reporters: 'Over the next eight weeks, what we are attempting to do is affect the situation on the ground.
'We have seen the most horrific scenes, the global community is deeply offended by children being shot and killed as they reach out for aid.
'The time has come for a ceasefire. The time has come to see those hostages released, and the time has come to abate the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza, to get them the aid and the medical equipment and supplies that they need.
'And it is my sincere hope that the decision that we have taken today affects the situation on the ground, and we get to that ceasefire, we get to those hostages coming out as soon as possible.'
The PM's move follows his meeting with Mr Trump in Scotland on Monday, while Sir Keir also spoke to the leaders of France and Germany over the weekend.
The US President appeared to shift his stance by publicly criticising Israel and said that reports and images of starvation in Gaza were 'real'.
This was despite Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's insistence that 'there is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza'.
Sir Keir shared plans he is working on with France and Germany to 'bring about a lasting peace' with Mr Trump.
The PM had been under increasing pressure, including from Cabinet ministers, to move towards recognising a Palestinian state, despite critics saying it would reward Hamas for its brutal attacks on Israel on 7 October, 2023.
Asked what would come out of today's Cabinet meeting, Technology Secretary Peter Kyle told LBC this morning that Labour 'went into the last election with a manifesto commitment to statehood for Palestine'.
'We've always said that this needs to be part of a process. It needs to be meaningful.,' he added.
'And I think that we also see the crisis in front of us that is so unprecedented and it is so horrific, it's reached terrible levels of deprivation in Gaza.'
Mr Trump has said he is 'working together' with Israel 'to try and get things straightened out' in Gaza amid warnings of severe mass starvation in the enclave.
After opening his new golf course in Menie, Aberdeenshire, today a reporter from the crowd asked the US President 'what will you say next to Benjamin Netanyahu?'.
'We're working together to try and get things straightened out,' Mr Trump replied.
Earlier, during his speech at the course, the US leader said he would fly back to the Washington DC to 'put out fires all over the world'.
Amid international alarm over starvation in Gaza, Israel announced at the weekend that it would suspend fighting in three areas for 10 hours a day and open secure routes for aid delivery.
The UK confirmed it was taking part in airdrops of aid into the territory.
Sir Keir's official spokesman said: 'This week, the Prime Minister is focused on a pathway to peace to ensure immediate relief for those on the ground, and a sustainable route to a two-state solution.
'We are clear that the recognition of the Palestinian state is a matter of when, not if, but it must be one of the steps on the path to a two-state solution as part of a wider plan that delivers lasting security for both Palestinians and Israelis.'
Aid agencies have welcomed the new measures but said they were not enough to counter the rising hunger in the Palestinian territory.
Sir Keir said that the British public is 'revolted' at the scenes of desperation in Gaza as he appeared alongside Mr Trump at his Turnberry golf course on Monday.
'It's a humanitarian crisis, it's an absolute catastrophe,' the PM said.
'Nobody wants to see that. I think people in Britain are revolted at seeing what they're seeing on their screens, so we've got to get to that ceasefire.'
The US President hinted at sticking points in US-led negotiations over a peace deal, saying Palestinian militant group Hamas had become 'very difficult to deal with' in recent weeks.
He suggested this was because they only held a small remaining number of Israeli hostages.
Sir Keir has likened the plan he is working on with France and Germany to the coalition of the willing, the international effort to support Ukraine towards a lasting peace.
The PM's official spokesman said the plan would build 'on the collaboration to date that paves the way to a long-term solution on security in the region'.
Sir Keir is facing calls from a growing number of MPs to recognise a Palestinian state immediately.
More than 250 cross-party MPs have now signed a letter calling for ministers to take the step, up from 221 on Friday.
