{"id":292385,"date":"2025-07-26T04:32:30","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T04:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/292385\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T04:32:30","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T04:32:30","slug":"uk-french-and-german-leaders-press-israel-over-gaza-aid-after-macron-backs-a-palestinian-state-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/292385\/","title":{"rendered":"UK, French and German leaders press Israel over Gaza aid after Macron backs a Palestinian state"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON (AP) \u2014 The leaders of Britain, France and Germany demanded Israel allow unrestricted aid into Gaza to end a \u201chumanitarian catastrophe,\u201d after French President Emmanuel Macron<\/a> announced that his country will become the first major Western power to recognize a Palestinian state<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The joint statement, issued after a calll between Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, called for an an immediate ceasefire and said that \u201cwithholding essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable,\u201d though it broke no new diplomatic ground. <\/p>\n

The leaders said they \u201cstand ready to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political process that leads to lasting security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region,\u201d but did not say what that action might be.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s move exposes European divisions<\/p>\n

Macron\u2019s surprise announcement exposed differences among the European allies, known as the E3, over how to ease the worsening humanitarian crisis and end the Israel-Hamas war<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All three support a Palestinian state in principle, but Germany said it has no immediate plans to follow France\u2019s step, which Macron plans to formalize at the United Nations General Assembly<\/a> in September.<\/p>\n

Britain has not followed suit either, but Starmer is under mounting pressure to formally recognize Palestinian statehood, both from opposition lawmakers and from members of his own Labour Party government. Health Secretary Wes Streeting on Tuesday called for an announcement \u201cwhile there\u2019s still a state of Palestine left to recognize.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday, 221 of the 650 lawmakers in the House of Commons signed a letter urging Starmer to recognize a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince 1980 we have backed a two-state solution. Such a recognition would give that position substance,\u201d said the letter, signed by legislators from several government and opposition parties.<\/p>\n

After the E3 call on Friday, Starmer condemned \u201cthe continued captivity of hostages, the starvation and denial of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people, the increasing violence from extremist settler groups, and Israel\u2019s disproportionate military escalation in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that \u201crecognition of a Palestinian state\u201d must be one of the steps on a pathway to peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am unequivocal about that. But it must be part of a wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

More than 140 countries recognize a Palestinian state, including a dozen in Europe. But France is the first Group of Seven country and the largest European nation to take that step. <\/p>\n

Israel and the United States both denounced France\u2019s decision. <\/p>\n

Britain has long supported the idea of an independent Palestinian state existing alongside Israel, but has said recognition should come as part of a negotiated two-state solution to the conflict.<\/p>\n

Any such solution appears far off. There had been no substantive Israel-Palestinian negotiations for years even before the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and sparked the current war.<\/p>\n

Humanitarian crisis alarms Israel\u2019s allies<\/p>\n

The worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where hunger is spreading<\/a> and children have starved to death<\/a>, has caused alarm even among Israel\u2019s closest allies.<\/p>\n

Germany has traditionally been a particularly staunch ally of Israel in Europe, with relations rooted in the history of the Holocaust. It says recognizing a Palestinian state should be \u201cone of the concluding steps\u201d in negotiating a two-state solution and it \u201cdoes not plan to recognize a Palestinian state in the short term.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Berlin, too, has sharpened its tone recently, describing the Israeli military\u2019s actions in Gaza as unacceptable and pushing for greater humanitarian aid, but still appears to favor trying to influence Israeli officials by direct contact.<\/p>\n

The German government said in a statement on Friday that it is in a \u201cconstant exchange\u201d with the Israeli government and other partners on issues that include a ceasefire in Gaza and the need to drastically improve humanitarian aid. It said it is \u201cprepared to increase the pressure\u201d if there is no progress, but didn\u2019t elaborate on how.<\/p>\n

Britain has halted some arms sales to Israel, suspended free trade talks<\/a> and sanctioned far-right government ministers<\/a> and extremist settlers, but Starmer is under intense pressure to do more.<\/p>\n

Also weighing on Starmer is his desire to maintain good relations with the U.S. administration, which has strongly criticized France\u2019s decision. The British leader is due to meet President Donald Trump in the next few days while the president is in Scotland<\/a> visiting two golf courses<\/a> he owns there.<\/p>\n

Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East expert at the international affairs think-tank Chatham House, said Macron\u2019s decision to defer finalizing recognition until September \u201ccreates some space\u201d for other countries to get on board.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that the U.K. is close, but not there,\u201d he said. \u201cThis might encourage Starmer, who we know is not one to rush such a decision. \u2026 This might create some momentum, some dynamic, for the U.K.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON (AP) \u2014 The leaders of Britain, France and Germany demanded Israel allow unrestricted aid into Gaza to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[26935,12019,389,32,34,2000,5215,299,16831,1945,4179,1824,835,13642,8614,837,58138,1815,807,83634,51176,285,15,11654,7660,3595,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-292385","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-2024-2025-mideast-wars","9":"tag-ap-top-news","10":"tag-children","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-emmanuel-macron","13":"tag-eu","14":"tag-eurocopa-2024","15":"tag-europe","16":"tag-france-government","17":"tag-friedrich-merz","18":"tag-general-news","19":"tag-germany","20":"tag-hamas","21":"tag-humanitarian-crises","22":"tag-international-agreements","23":"tag-israel","24":"tag-israel-government","25":"tag-israel-hamas-war","26":"tag-keir-starmer","27":"tag-mideast-wars","28":"tag-palestinian-territories-government","29":"tag-politics","30":"tag-united-kingdom","31":"tag-united-kingdom-government","32":"tag-war-and-unrest","33":"tag-wes-streeting","34":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}