Sir Keir Starmer has condemned Israel’s plans to take over Gaza City as “wrong”, warning the move will “only bring more bloodshed” after Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet approved the controversial offensive in the early hours of Friday morning.
The Prime Minister urged the Israeli government to “immediately reconsider” its decision to escalate military operations in Gaza’s most populated city, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are currently sheltering after being displaced by nearly two years of war.
The sharp rebuke from Downing Street came hours after Israel’s security cabinet concluded a marathon 10-hour meeting with a majority vote approving Netanyahu’s plan to seize control of Gaza City, despite opposition from the Israeli military’s top brass and warnings from families of hostages still held in the territory.
The Israeli Government’s decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately,” Sir Keir said in a strongly-worded statement released on Friday morning. This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed.”
The Labour leader’s intervention marks a significant escalation in Britain’s criticism of Israeli military operations, coming just days after the UK announced it would formally recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel takes “substantive steps” to end the conflict.
Netanyahu’s office confirmed that Israeli forces “will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones” – a plan that Israeli officials suggest could require the evacuation of up to one million Palestinians from the area.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey went further than the Prime Minister in his condemnation, declaring the plans “utterly abhorrent” and claiming that Netanyahu’s goal amounted to “ethnic cleansing.
“This plan will only serve to wreak more devastation on the lives of millions of Gazans – whose homes and communities have already been destroyed – while endangering the lives of those hostages still held by Hamas,” Sir Ed said.
He called on the Prime Minister to take immediate action beyond diplomatic statements. “Rather than sitting on its hands and issuing strongly worded statements, the UK government needs to take decisive action. Keir Starmer needs to stop the export of all UK arms to Israel – today – and sanction Netanyahu and his cabinet.
The Israeli security cabinet’s decision represents the first phase of what could become a complete military occupation of the Gaza Strip, with Netanyahu earlier telling Fox News that Israel intends to take control of the entire territory before handing it over to “Arab forces that will govern it properly.
According to the Prime Minister’s office, the cabinet adopted five principles for ending the war: disarming Hamas, returning all hostages both living and deceased, demilitarising the Gaza Strip, maintaining Israeli security control over the territory, and establishing “an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority”.
The move has prompted fierce opposition within Israel itself. Military chief Eyal Zamir reportedly pushed back against the plan during heated cabinet discussions, warning that such an operation would endanger the approximately 20 hostages believed to still be alive and could lead to Israeli military rule over two million Palestinians.
An overwhelming majority of cabinet ministers believed that the alternative plan presented to the cabinet would not achieve the defeat of Hamas or the return of the hostages,” Netanyahu’s office said in a terse statement, without elaborating on what the military had proposed as an alternative.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents the families of those still held in Gaza, expressed alarm at the decision. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid slammed the takeover plan as a “disaster” and “exactly what Hamas wanted.
Sir Keir emphasised that what Gaza needs is “a ceasefire, a surge in humanitarian aid, the release of all hostages by Hamas and a negotiated solution. He added that “Hamas can play no part in the future of Gaza and must leave as well as disarm”.
The Prime Minister’s statement continued: “Every day the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens and hostages taken by Hamas are being held in appalling and inhuman conditions. Together with our allies, we are working on a long-term plan to secure peace in the region as part of a two-state solution, and ultimately achieve a brighter future for Palestinians and Israelis.
He warned that “without both sides engaging in good faith in negotiations, that prospect is vanishing before our eyes”. The British leader concluded: “Our message is clear: a diplomatic solution is possible, but both parties must step away from the path of destruction.”
The United Nations has warned that a complete military takeover would risk “catastrophic consequences” for Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages held in Gaza. The Israeli military currently controls approximately 75 per cent of Gaza, with almost all of the territory’s 2.1 million citizens crammed into the remaining quarter.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy is due to meet US Vice President JD Vance at Chevening House in Kent later on Friday, where the escalating situation in Gaza is expected to feature prominently in their bilateral discussions. The two men, who have developed an unlikely friendship despite their contrasting political backgrounds, will discuss “a variety of topics pertaining to the US-UK relationship”, according to the White House.
The meeting comes as Britain attempts to navigate its increasingly divergent approach from Washington on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While the UK has announced plans to recognise Palestinian statehood, US President Donald Trump has dismissed such moves as “rewarding Hamas.
Last week’s announcement that Britain would recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire and commits to a two-state solution has already strained UK-Israel relations. Netanyahu accused Sir Keir of “rewarding Hamas’s monstrous terrorism” and warned that “a jihadist state on Israel’s border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry condemned the UK’s position, stating it “constitutes a reward for Hamas and harms efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of hostages.
International condemnation of the Gaza City plan has been swift. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong called on Israel “not to go down this path, which will only worsen the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Finland’s Foreign Minister also expressed serious concerns about the escalation.
Since the war began following Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, which killed 1,195 people and saw 251 taken hostage, more than 61,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza according to the territory’s Health Ministry. The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification has warned of imminent famine, with malnutrition-related deaths rising sharply in recent weeks.
Gaza City, located in the north of the enclave, remains one of the few areas not under full Israeli military control. The planned offensive is expected to require mass evacuations of civilians, though it remains unclear where they would be displaced to, given that most of Gaza has been designated as combat zones.
The decision to escalate military operations comes despite growing international calls for restraint and increasing diplomatic isolation for Israel. More than 140 countries now recognise Palestinian statehood, with Britain and France set to join them in September unless significant progress is made towards peace.
As the humanitarian crisis deepens and diplomatic efforts appear to falter, Sir Keir’s warning that a military solution will “only bring more bloodshed” reflects growing international alarm at the trajectory of the conflict and the vanishing prospects for a negotiated settlement.
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Image Credit (Shortened):
Keir Starmer hosting the Council of Nations and Regions – by UK Government / No 10 Downing Street, licensed under OGL v3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
