Letter demands that London act now to halt \u2018erasure and annexation\u2019 of Palestinian land before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n
Nearly 60 lawmakers in the United Kingdom have written to Foreign Secretary David Lammy this week, calling out Israel\u2019s plans for the \u201cethnic cleansing\u201d of Gaza and demanding the country immediately recognise Palestine as a state.<\/p>\n
The 59 lawmakers, all from the governing Labour Party, criticised Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz\u2019s plans to force Gaza\u2019s 2.1 million Palestinians into a so-called \u201chumanitarian city<\/a>\u201d \u2013 likened by some analysts to a concentration camp \u2013 built on the ruins of Rafah.<\/p>\n The letter, sent to Lammy on Thursday and made public on Saturday, cited Israeli human rights lawyer Michael Sfard as saying Palestinians were being pushed to the southern tip of Gaza \u201cin preparation for deportation outside the strip\u201d, slamming the move as \u201cethnic cleansing\u201d.<\/p>\n They urged the foreign secretary to stop Israel\u2019s \u201coperational plan for crimes against humanity\u201d. It also called on London to follow the lead of French President Emmanuel Macron, who recently announced an intent to recognise a Palestinian state, so as not to undermine its own policy in support of a two-state solution.<\/p>\n Dozens of Labour MPs have signed letter calling on @FCDOGovUK<\/a> Secretary David Lammy to take concrete action on #Gaza<\/a> including immediate recognition of #Palestine<\/a><\/p>\n Here it is in full, though more MPs signing up by the minute <\/p>\n Thanks @LFPME<\/a> for coordinating, government must heed pic.twitter.com\/fOxiylKKVi<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Rupa Huq MP (@RupaHuq) July 12, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Reporting from London, Al Jazeera\u2019s Sonia Gallego said Macron had given calls to formally recognise Palestine as a state \u201cextra heft\u201d during his three-day state visit to the UK this week.<\/p>\n In an address on Tuesday to the UK\u2019s Parliament, he had said the move was a matter of \u201cabsolute urgency\u201d and the \u201conly path to peace\u201d, calling on the country to help create the \u201cpolitical momentum\u201d for a two-state solution.<\/p>\n Gallego pointed out that Lammy had on Tuesday criticised<\/a> the controversial US-backed GHF sites at Parliament\u2019s Foreign Affairs Committee.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not doing a good job. Too many people are\u00a0close to starvation<\/a>. Too many people have lost their lives,\u201d Lammy had said.<\/p>\n Three out of the enclave\u2019s four GHF sites, which have sidelined Gaza\u2019s vast UN-led aid delivery network, are located in southern Gaza, effectively forcing starving Palestinians towards Israel\u2019s new \u201chumanitarian city\u201d in Rafah.<\/p>\n On Friday, the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that 819 Palestinians<\/a> have been killed while waiting for food \u2013 634 in the vicinity of GHF sites, which have been operational since late May. On Saturday, 34 more were killed near a GHF site in Rafah.<\/p>\n Lammy had also said that the UK could take further action against Israel if a ceasefire deal to end the war in the Palestinian territory does not materialise. But he stressed that London wants to recognise Palestine as part of a concrete move towards the two-state solution, not just as a symbolic gesture.<\/p>\n The lawmakers welcomed the Labour government\u2019s calls for a ceasefire, its suspension of arms licenses to Israel, and its sanctioning<\/a> of hardline Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, but said the \u201cdesperation and seriousness\u201d of the situation in Gaza required more action.<\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot leave actions in our back pocket while the situation facing Palestinian civilians reaches critical and existential levels,\u201d said the letter, which was organised by Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East, co-chaired by lawmakers Sarah Owen and Andrew Pakes.<\/p>\n \u201cBy not recognising [Palestine] as a state, we \u2026 set an expectation that the status quo can continue and see the effective erasure and annexation of Palestinian territory,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n The Times of Israel reported this week that an international conference aiming to resuscitate the two-state solution was postponed to July 28-29 after plans to hold it last month were derailed by the 12-day Iran-Israel war.<\/p>\n\n