Sir Keir Starmer has stated that the UK is collaborating with Jordan on plans to airdrop aid into Gaza, following a letter signed by over a third of MPs urging the government to recognize a Palestinian state.
A small team of British military planners and logisticians is being deployed to assist Jordan in delivering aid to the territory.
On Friday, Israel announced it would permit foreign countries to conduct airdrops in the coming days, amidst growing international concerns regarding humanitarian conditions in the region.
However, the UN and aid organizations have consistently maintained that airdrops are insufficient for delivering adequate supplies to Gaza, and that falling crates can cause injuries and chaos on the ground.
Sir Keir also noted that the UK is “urgently accelerating efforts” to evacuate children in need of critical medical assistance to the UK for treatment.
“The news that Israel will allow countries to airdrop aid into Gaza has come far too late – but we will do everything we can to get aid in via this route,” the prime minister wrote in The Mirror.
He affirmed that the UK is “already working urgently with the Jordanian authorities to get British aid onto planes and into Gaza.”
In a post on X on Friday, Sir Keir stated that his government would “pull every lever” to provide food and life-saving support to Palestinians, adding: “This humanitarian catastrophe must end.”
On Saturday, Downing Street reported that the prime minister had again spoken with French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz, following their phone call on Friday night.
The three leaders urged Israel to lift all restrictions on aid and agreed that “robust plans” were required to turn an “urgently needed ceasefire into lasting peace”, No 10 said.
The statement also confirmed the UK would be working with Jordan to evacuate children requiring medical assistance.
These developments come as Sir Keir faces increasing pressure both domestically and internationally to recognize a Palestinian state.
On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to recognize Palestinian statehood within months.
Furthermore, 220 MPs from nine political parties – a majority of whom are Labour – signed a joint letter stating that such a move would send a “powerful” message and a vital step toward a two-state solution.
Sir Keir has stated that recognizing Palestine would need to be part of a “wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution.”
However, Labour MP Sarah Champion, who authored and coordinated the signing of the letter, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “the clock is really ticking” on the international community’s ability to recognize Palestinian statehood.
“We really need to do it while there is the possibility of there being a state of Palestine… and that is not going to be there for much longer,” she said.
Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister, has described plans to recognize a Palestinian state as a “prize for terror” following the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.
Champion also described aid drops as “largely symbolic,” adding that there were scenes of “grotesque hunger games” when the international community last delivered air supplies into Gaza.
“It’s survival of the fittest when these are dropped… what we need is Israel to make the decision to open every single border so that aid floods. That is the only way to stop this man-made famine,” she said.
Five people were killed when at least one parachute failed to deploy and a parcel fell on them during an aid drop in March 2024.
In a separate incident later that month, Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office said 12 people drowned when they went into the sea to retrieve food packages dropped from the sky.
The UK has been involved in previous efforts to airdrop aid into Gaza – a method aid agencies have cautioned is an inefficient way to deliver supplies.
The previous Conservative government struck a deal with Jordan to deliver aid by air in 2024. Tonnes of supplies including medicines, food and fuel were dropped into northern Gaza by parachute from Jordanian Air Force planes.
The same year the Royal Air Force began conducting air drops directly. The RAF went on to deliver over 100 tonnes of food over the course of 11 flights between March and May, according to the government.
Israeli media reported that the United Arab Emirates and Jordan would carry out the latest drops, but a senior Jordanian official told the BBC that its military was yet to receive permission from Israel to do so.
The UN has described the move as a “distraction to inaction” by the Israeli government.
Its food aid programme warned that almost one in three people in Gaza are going for days without eating.
“Malnutrition is surging with 90,000 women and children in urgent need of treatment,” the World Food Programme said in a statement.
Israel, which controls the entry of all supplies into the Palestinian territory, has repeatedly said that there is no siege and blames Hamas for cases of malnutrition.
Since the outbreak of war in Gaza, two children with serious health conditions have been brought to the UK for private medical treatment.
The young girls were granted temporary visas, arriving in the UK in May from Egypt with the assistance of Project Pure Hope, a humanitarian healthcare initiative.
The US President is in Scotland for a four-day private visit, which includes the opening of a second golf course at his Aberdeenshire resort.
There will be a huge security operation when the US president makes his first visit to the UK since his re-election.
Gaza features prominently on the front pages, while the Daily Telegraph focuses on prostate cancer screening.
The US president will be playing golf as well as meeting the prime minister and first minister for talks.
Labour and the Greens appear to have the most to fear from a new left-wing party but UK politics is very volatile.