Keir Starmer will cave in to pressure from his own MPs and formally recognise Palestine as a state this weekend, it has been claimed.
The Prime Minister will wait until after President Trump concludes his state visit to the UK to make the announcement.
Washington is strongly opposed to official recognition of Palestine amid fears it could embolden Hamas even further and act as a reward to the terror group.
More than 200 MPs – including 130 Labour politicians – urged Sir Keir to recognise Palestine as a state amid a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel said: “This is a desperate and insincere attempt by Keir Starmer to placate his backbenchers and save his premiership by letting his left-wing MPs dictate Britain’s foreign policy.
“Starmer’s appeasement policy is self-serving because he faces a growing rebellion in his party. His gesture politics will not bring long lasting peace, stability or prosperity to this part of the Middle East.
“While Hamas continues its reign of terror and with hostages held in captivity, a two-state solution which brings lasting peace and security is not realistic. Starmer’s feeble government should work with the United States to formalise a plan that releases hostages, brings
the desperately needed aid to the people of Gaza and eliminates the prospect of a terrorist organisation ever governing Gaza once and for all. Peace through strength cannot be achieved by capitulating to a terrorist led organisation.”
The Prime Minister recalled his cabinet from their break earlier this Summer to approve the plan after holding talks with Donald Trump in Scotland.
Sir Keir said that the UK would recognise Palestine unless Israel reached a ceasefire, committed itself to a two-state solution and made clear that it would not annex the occupied West Bank.
But Israel has launched a major ground offensive in recent days.
And the UK is expected to press ahead with the plans before a meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York next week.
It comes as dozens of Israeli tanks and military vehicles pushed into a major residential district of Gaza City, on the second day of Israel’s ground offensive aimed at occupying the area.
The leaders of more than 20 major aid agencies, including Save the Children and Oxfam, warned that “the inhumanity of the situation in Gaza is unconscionable”.
Residents in Sheikh Radwan said Wednesday’s incursion followed a wave of heavy airstrikes targeting buildings and main streets across the neighbourhood, in what appeared to be preparation for the ground assault.
Saad Hamada, a local resident who fled south with his family earlier on Wednesday, told the BBC: “The drones didn’t leave anything. They hit solar panels, power generators, water tanks, even the internet network.
“Life became impossible, and that is what forced most people to leave despite the danger.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Wednesday morning that it had struck more than 150 targets across Gaza City in two days in support of its ground troops.
A UN Report has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory said that Israel’s war in Gaza amounts to genocide as defined by the 1948 Genocide Convention. It was the first formal declaration by the UN.
Israel has denied the accusations and maintains that its war in Gaza is legal and conducted in self-defence following Hamas’ attack on October 7th, which killed nearly 1,200 people and led to 250 hostages being taken.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said: “The report relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others. Israel categorically rejects this distorted and false report and calls for the immediate abolition of this Commission of Inquiry.”
One of the authors of the report, Chris Sidoti, an Australian human rights lawyer, said: “If the Israelis were concerned to avoid genocide, if they were concerned about true humanitarian zones, they would enable the people of Gaza to seek refuge in Israel itself. Sure with security, sure with checks on the borders and everything else.
“But without a means of escape, there is literally a captive population upon whom genocide is inflicted. That’s what it is.”
When asked about the use of advance warnings and evacuation orders to humanitarian safe zones, he described such measures as a “cruel joke”.
“Our investigations indicated that people were being targeted and shot along the evacuation routes and targeted and bombed when they were in the so-called humanitarian zones, in schools, in hospitals, tents, on beaches. They were killed.
“The United Nations officials have said repeatedly, people on the ground, there is no safe place in Gaza,” he added.