The UK is working with Jordan on plans to air drop aid into Gaza and evacuate children needing medical assistance, Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed in a call with French and German counterparts.
The Prime Minister held emergency talks with Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz on Saturday amid mounting global anger at the humanitarian conditions in the enclave.
In a readout of the call, Number 10 said the leaders had agreed âit would be vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently-needed ceasefire into lasting peaceâ.
âThe Prime Minister set out how the UK will also be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to air drop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance,â a Downing Street spokesperson said.
However, the head of the UNâs Palestinian refugee agency warned airdrops were âa distraction and screensmokeâ that would fail to reverse deepening starvation in Gaza, and could in some cases harm civilians.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said on Saturday: âA man-made hunger can only be addressed by political will. Lift the siege, open the gates and guarantee safe movements and dignified access to people in need.â
Israel said on Saturday it was allowing UN convoys to transport aid into Gaza, as well as airdrops, and that it had reconnected power to a desalination plant into the territory, where there is widespread devastation.
The readout made no mention of the issue of Palestinian statehood, which the Prime Minister has faced calls to immediately recognise after French President Mr Macron confirmed his country would do so in September.
However, Downing Street said the leaders had committed to âwork closely together on a planâ to âpave the way to a long-term solution and security in the regionâ.
Once the proposals have been âworked upâ, they will seek to advance them with other key partners, including in the region, the readout said.
Some 221 MPs from Labour, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, SNP, Greens, Plaid Cymru, SDLP and independents have signed a letter pressuring the Government to follow suit at a UN meeting next week.
Sarah Champion, the senior Labour MP who organised the letter by parliamentarians, said recognition âwould send a powerful symbolic message that we support the rights of the Palestinian peopleâ.
Other senior Commons figures who signed the letter include Labour select committee chairs Liam Byrne, Dame Emily Thornberry and Ruth Cadbury.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey, as well as Tory former minister Kit Malthouse, and Sir Edward Leigh â Parliamentâs longest-serving MP â also signed it.
The majority of those who have signed, 131, are Labour MPs.
The Government has so far said its immediate focus is on getting aid into the territory and insisted that recognising statehood must be done as part of a peace process.
Charities operating in Gaza have said Israelâs blockade and ongoing military offensive are pushing people there towards starvation, warning that they are seeing their own workers and Palestinians âwaste awayâ.
But Mr Lazzarini said airdrops can be dangerous as they can fall on civilians, and that being able to drive aid through is more effective and safer.
âAirdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation. They are expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians,â he said. âIt is a distraction and screensmoke.â
In a statement on Saturday, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said âairdrops of aid will resumeâ including âseven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned foodâ.
It said it would allow âsafe movement of UN convoys delivering food and medicineâ but that the military âemphasises that combat operations have not ceasedâ.
The state also said that there was âno starvationâ in Gaza, despite increasing accounts of malnutrition and starvation-related deaths.
US President Donald Trump has suggested Mr Macronâs announcement, which saw him commit to formally recognising Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly in September, âdoesnât matterâ.
The Prime Minister will meet the US president during his trip to Scotland, where he arrived on Friday evening.
Ceasefire talks have been at a standstill after the US and Israel recalled negotiating teams on Thursday, with Washingtonâs special envoy Steve Witkoff accusing Hamas of a âlack of desire to reach a ceasefireâ.
Foreign Secretary David Lammyâs opposite number Dame Priti Patel said she had ârepeatedly pressedâ him on âwhat specific and deliverable solutions he is trying to advance on aidâ.
âThe British Government needs to be leveraging its influence and the UKâs considerable aid expertise to bring about practical solutions that alleviate the dire and deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza,â she said.
âThe priority must be to get as much aid in as possible, delivered safely and exclusively to innocent civilians.
âDiplomacy is about finding solutions, not just issuing condemnations.â
Meanwhile, Israelâs ambassador to the UK said recognising Palestinian statehood would ârewardâ hostage-taking and killing by Hamas.
âRecognising a Palestinian state in a post-October 7 reality would be nothing less than a reward for terrorism,â she wrote in the Telegraph.
