LONDON, UK — Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has announced that the United Kingdom is working with Jordan on plans to deliver emergency aid into Gaza by air, amid mounting calls from British lawmakers for the UK to formally recognize a Palestinian state.
A small team of British military planners and logisticians will be deployed to assist the Jordanian military in delivering food and medicine into the besieged territory, the BBC has learned.
“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,” Starmer wrote in a column published Friday night in The Mirror.
The move comes as more than 220 Members of Parliament — including a majority from Starmer’s Labour Party — signed a cross-party letter urging the UK to recognize Palestine as a state.
The letter, led by Labour MP and international development committee chair Sarah Champion, described such recognition as a “vital step” toward a two-state solution.
Champion warned the international window for action is closing fast.
“The clock is really ticking… We need to do it while there’s still the possibility of a Palestinian state,” she told BBC Radio 4.
Air Drops Draw Mixed Reactions
Starmer confirmed the UK is also “urgently accelerating efforts” to evacuate children in Gaza who require critical medical care, as humanitarian conditions continue to worsen.
But aid drops have sparked debate, with critics warning that the method is more symbolic than practical.
Champion described them as “grotesque hunger games,” pointing to previous incidents where civilians were killed while scrambling for air-dropped parcels.
“It’s survival of the fittest,” she said. “What we need is for Israel to open all borders and allow aid to flood in.”
The World Food Programme has warned that nearly one-third of Gaza’s population is going days without food.
Malnutrition is surging, with more than 90,000 women and children in urgent need of treatment.
Israel’s Position and International Pressure
Israel announced Friday it would allow foreign countries to airdrop supplies in the coming days, a shift that follows months of international pressure.
However, a senior Jordanian official told the BBC that its military is still awaiting final clearance from Israel to begin operations.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has dismissed calls for Palestinian statehood as a “prize for terror,” referencing the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks.
Prime Minister Starmer responded by saying statehood must be part of a broader peace plan.
“Recognition of Palestine has to come as part of a wider plan that results in a two-state solution,” he said.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to formally recognize Palestine “within months,” a move dismissed by U.S. President Donald Trump as irrelevant.
UK’s Role So Far
The UK has previously participated in coordinated air drops with Jordan, delivering over 100 tonnes of food and medicine earlier this year.
Two children from Gaza have also been flown to the UK for urgent medical treatment under the Project Pure Hope initiative.
Despite those efforts, the UN has criticised the air-drop strategy as a “distraction from inaction,” calling for unrestricted humanitarian access to the strip.
