Skip next section UK prime minister recalls cabinet for an emergency meeting on Gaza

07/29/2025 July 29, 2025 UK prime minister recalls cabinet for an emergency meeting on Gaza

British Prime MinisterKeir Starmer has recalled his ministers from the summer break to discuss a Gaza peace plan.

This comes as Starmer is increasingly under pressure from his own party to recognize a Palestinian state, a move that was included in the Labour Party’s election-winning manifesto last year.

The UK plan is said to focus on achieving “sustainable peace” while outlining conditions needed to recognize a Palestinian State.

Last week Starmer said he is “working on a pathway to peace” that will “set out the concrete steps needed to turn the ceasefire so desperately needed, into a lasting peace.”

“Recognition of a Palestinian state has to be one of those steps. I am unequivocal about that,” he added.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that the conditions could include a ceasefire agreement and the release of Israeli hostages. So far, the UK has said “there can be no role for Hamas.”

Starmer is expected to present the plan to France and Germany in the coming days, according to the Daily Telegraph.

The British leader is believed to have already discussed the plan with US President Donald Trump during his visit to Scotland on Monday.

Last week, France became the first G7 country to announce it would recognize a Palestinian state.

Geneva, Switzerland – Famine is “now unfolding” in Gaza , with thousands of children malnourished and hunger-related deaths on the rise among the youngest, the UN’s monitor warned on Tuesday, as Israel continued a campaign increasingly viewed as genocidal.

Famine is “now unfolding in Gaza,” where thousands of children are malnourished and deaths of starvation are on the rise, the UN’s ntegrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative said. © Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative (IPC) said that air drops over Gaza will not be enough to avert the “humanitarian catastrophe.”

“The worst-case scenario of famine is now unfolding in the Gaza Strip,” said the UN-backed group of organizations, used as a monitor to gauge malnutrition.

“Immediate, unimpeded” humanitarian access into Gaza was the only way to stop rapidly rising “starvation and death,” it said.

The IPC issued its alert after days of aid groups sounding the alarm over hunger-related deaths in Gaza.

Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza on March 2 after it unilaterally abandoned a ceasefire with Hamas. In late May, it began allowing a small trickle of aid to resume, under the management of the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a universally-derided organization set up by Israel and the US, and staffed by mercenaries.

GHF’s aid distribution centers have since become death traps for hundreds of Palestinians killed in near-daily massacres.

Famine is unfolding in Gaza, where Israeli restrictions on food aid and continuing fighting have produced a “worst-case scenario”, UN-backed hunger experts have said, calling for immediate intervention to save lives.

“Mounting evidence shows widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths,” the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) alert said. “The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.”

This is the first time the IPC has said famine is under way in Gaza, although it has previously warned that the territory was on the brink. During nearly two years of war, Israel has repeatedly limited aid trucks reaching Gaza, sometimes halting aid shipments entirely.

The famine alert came as health authorities in Gaza said the Palestinian toll from the war had passed 60,000. Civilians make up a majority of the victims.

The alert, based on “the latest evidence available”, does not formally classify Gaza as being in famine. That requires full analysis, which the IPC said would be carried out without delay, but data from Gaza already confirms two of three thresholds have been met.

Famine is formally classified as a situation where at least 20% of people face extreme food shortages, one in three children are acutely malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 die daily from starvation-related causes.

Most of Gaza has crossed the food consumption threshold, “with one in three individuals going without food for days at a time”, the IPC alert said.

Child malnutrition rose rapidly in the first half of July, reaching the famine threshold in Gaza City. “Hospitals have reported a rapid increase in hunger-related deaths of children under five years of age, with at least 16 reported deaths since 17 July,” it said.

Between April and mid-July, more than 20,000 children were admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition, 3,000 of them severely malnourished.

The third core indicator is starvation-related deaths. It is difficult to collect robust data in a health system nearing collapse after nearly two years of war but the World Food Programme and Unicef said in a joint statement that these deaths were “increasingly common”.

Q&A Why is it so difficult to report on Gaza? Show Coverage of the war in Gaza is constrained by Israeli attacks on Palestinian journalists and a bar on international reporters entering the Gaza Strip to report independently on the war. Israel has not allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza since 7 October 2023, unless they are under Israeli military escort. Reporters who join these trips have no control over where they go, and other restrictions include a bar on speaking to Palestinians in Gaza. Palestinian journalists and media workers inside Gaza have paid a heavy price for their work reporting on the war, with over 180 killed since the conflict began. The committee to protect journalists has determined that at least 19 of them “were directly targeted by Israeli forces in killings which CPJ classifies as murders”. Foreign reporters based in Israel filed a legal petition seeking access to Gaza, but it was rejected by the supreme court on security grounds. Private lobbying by diplomats and public appeals by prominent journalists and media outlets have been ignored by the Israeli government. To ensure accurate reporting from Gaza given these restrictions, the Guardian works with trusted journalists on the ground; our visual​​ teams verif​y photo and videos from third parties; and we use clearly sourced data from organisations that have a track record of providing accurate information in Gaza during past conflicts, or during other conflicts or humanitarian crises. Emma Graham-Harrison, chief Middle East correspondent Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.

Cindy McCain, the WFP executive director, said: “The unbearable suffering of the people of Gaza is already clear for the world to see. Waiting for official confirmation of famine to provide life-saving food aid they desperately need is unconscionable.”

The IPC report details how Israel’s “drastic restrictions” on the entry of food has limited shipments to far below the levels needed to cover basic needs in Gaza, without fresh foods such as vegetables and meat.

The population needs an estimated 62,000 metric tonnes of food staples each month. Israeli data shows no food entered Gaza in March or April, 19,900 tonnes entered in May and 37,800 tonnes entered in June, the IPC report says.

“This is unlike anything we have seen in this century,” said the WFP emergency director, Ross Smith, addressing reporters in Geneva via video link from Rome. “It reminds us of previous disasters in Ethiopia or Biafra in the past century. We need urgent action now.”

Israel denies limiting aid shipments and has blamed food shortages in Gaza on other factors including distribution failures by the UN and Hamas diverting aid.

The IPC is a global initiative working with aid groups, international organisations and UN agencies to assess hunger levels in populations at risk.

A BRADFORD park will host a weekend of events as part of the National Festival of Archaeology.

The Council for British Archaeology’s annual Festival of Archaeology culminates in a grand finale weekend at Cliffe Castle in Keighley.

The free family two-day finale on Saturday and Sunday celebrates archaeology on this year’s theme of wellbeing and will include hands-on activities, including events that have been organised by Bradford Council’s Museums and Galleries service.

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In Cliffe Castle Park visitors will be able to discover Stone Age history with demonstrations from Ancientcraft have a go at textile and pottery crafts, take part in a walking tour and have a lesson in how to play musical stones.

Musical stones at Cliffe Castle (Image: T&A)

Bradford 2025 also has their Beacon venue at Cliffe Castle Park hosting host a series of events as part of the part of the festival.

Leading up to the finale weekend there will be a series of events, talks and activities to celebrate.

The Beacon at Cliffe Castle (Image: T&A) On Wednesday children will be able to get hands-on with special activities for under fives, with kinetic sand play, dinosaur eggs and archaeological adventures.

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On the same day families, can become archaeology detectives and put climate change under the microscope.

A series of talks will also take place visitors will be able to hear from local and national archaeology experts.

Dr Jill Cook FSA, Keeper of the Department of Britain, Europe & Prehistory at The British Museum, will talk about the Ice Age Art Now exhibition, which she has curated and is currently on show at Cliffe Castle Museum.

Ice Age Art on display in Cliffe Castle Museum (Image: T&A)

Gavin Edwards, former Collections Manager and Archaeology curator for Bradford District Museums and Galleries will also be giving an insight into the iron-age Silsden Hoard.

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Dr James Wright FSA, a buildings archaeologist, author, lecturer and broadcaster, will be rounding off the series of talks by delving into the world of buildings folklore – from secret passages to ships timbers and much more.

On Thursday, local artist Jessica Swift will be leading workshops where people of all ages can make a coil pot, or just simply have a play with clay.

The festival runs alongside the British Museum Partnership Exhibition Ice Age Art Now which is on display at Cliffe Castle Museum until September 14. The exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see some of the oldest art found in the UK, with some as much as 24,000 years old.

Neil Redfern, Executive Director of the Council for British Archaeology, added “We are delighted to be closing this year’s Festival of Archaeology at Cliffe Castle in the heart of Keighley.

“Not only is the museum packed with amazing exhibits and archaeology, but the park is a fantastic setting for our festival finale. We’re proud to support and celebrate Bradford in its year as UK City of Culture, and we invite everyone to come along, get inspired, and discover how archaeology can spark curiosity and fire the imagination.”

More than 60,000 people have been killed as a result of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza since October 2023, the Hamas-run health ministry says.

It said on Monday that the death toll had reached at least 60,034, with 145,870 others injured.

At least 112 people were killed in the 24 hours before late Tuesday morning, with 22 people killed while trying to get aid, the ministry said

Israel launched its offensive in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.