UK officially recognises Palestine — what it means and all you need to know ...Middle East

The UK has officially recognised the state of Palestine in a symbolic move of support, as the death toll in Gaza continues to rise.

Sir Keir Starmer announced in July that he was preparing to officially recognise the state, but only if Israel failed to meet certain conditions, including a ceasefire in Gaza.

The Prime Minister said the UK was recognising Palestine in order to “keep alive the possibility of peace” in the face “of the growing horror in the Middle East”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown no sign of ending his military campaign as devastating images of starvation in Gaza continue to emerge.

Netanyahu has criticised the move towards recognition, claiming that the decision rewards “Hamas’s monstrous terrorism”.

Israel has also argued there is no starvation in the enclave and no restrictions on food entering Gaza.

Recognition is unlikely to make any tangible difference to the war in Gaza, but is a symbolic gesture of support.

Several previous British governments have discussed making the move, but wanted it to be part of a peace process.

Prior to recognition from the UK, Palestine was already recognised by 75 per cent of the UN’s 193 member committee.

It has the status of a “permanent observer state”, meaning it is allowed to participate but has no voting rights.

Despite being internationally recognised, competing in sporting events and having diplomatic missions abroad, Palestine has no internally agreed boundaries because of its dispute with Israel.

Israel’s illegal military occupation of the West Bank means that the Palestinian authority, which was set up in the 1990s, does not have full control over its land and its people.

Palestinians, including children, try to receive hot meal, distributed by charity organizations, as people struggle with hunger due to Israeli food blockade at Nuseirat Refugee Camp in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on September 21, 2025. (Photo by Moiz Salhi/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Husam Zomlot, a Palestinian diplomat in the UK, said that recognition would “today end the denial of our existence that started 108 years ago, in 1914”.

Zomlot was referring to the Balfour Declaration, supported by the UK, which created the Jewish state in 1917.

The Declaration established “a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine with a promise that the rights of non-Jewish communities would not be infringed.

“I think today the British people should celebrate a day when history is corrected”, said Zomlot, “when wrongs are being righted, when recognition of the wrongs of the past are beginning to be corrected, and when taking responsibility of that colonial era”.

Recognition means UK is allowed to enter treaties with Palestine and that the UK supports Palestine’s right to self-determination, that it disapproves of Israel’s refusal to negotiate a two-state solution, and that Israel will not be able to annex land and displace Palestinian people to no consequence.

It is unlikely, however, that recognising the state of Palestine will bring the conflict any closer to ending.

Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southwards after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip, September 20, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Speaking to Sky News on Sunday, deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, said the prospect of a ceasefire “at this point lies in tatters”.

He added that although the UK has recognised Palestine, doing so would not bring about the creation of a Palestinian state “overnight”.

Why now?

There has been mounting pressure on the UK to take action, as scenes of destruction and ruin continue emerge from Gaza.

Palestinian health authorities say Israel’s ground and air campaign in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 60,000 people, and that children make up a third of that figure.

The UN said in July there was mounting evidence that “widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease” was driving a rise in hunger-related deaths.

More than a thousand Palestinians waiting for supplies near food distribution sites in Gaza have also been killed over the past several months.

Food distribution has been managed by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The organisation, backed by Israel and the US, has claimed that they have distributed hundreds of food parcels to Palestinians.

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Recognising Palestine is classic Starmer – a short-term fix with no plan

But UN experts has described GHF as “an utterly disturbing example of how humanitarian relief can be exploited for covert military and geopolitical agenda in serious breach of international law”.

The Prime Minister has denied he was waiting for Trump to leave the UK before going ahead with the move, despite it being a point of tension between the pair.

At a press conference on Thursday, Starmer said he had “made my position clear at the end of July, so the timing, it’s got nothing to do with this state visit”.

What have other countries said?

Canada has recognised the state of Palestine with Prime Minister Mark Carney saying the country would “offers our partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future for both the State of Palestine and the State of Israel”.

Australia also followed the UK and Canada in recognising the State of Palestine as part of a “co-ordinated international effort to build new momentum” to a two-state solution.

The US has been public is its opposition to the move, with Trump saying on Thursday that he has a “disagreement with the prime minister on that score”.

Republican members of congress, including chairwoman Elise Stefanik and Senator Rick Scott, sent a letter to allies calling on them to reverse their position on the recognition of Palestine.

The letter read: “We are writing with respect to your efforts to unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state at the upcoming 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly. This is a reckless policy that undermines prospects for peace”.

It added: “It sets the dangerous precent that violence, not diplomacy, is the most expedient means for terrorist groups like Hamas to achieve their political aims”. Recognition is unlikely to make any tangible difference to the war in Gaza, but is a symbolic gesture of support.

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