London mayor Palestinian statehood

London — London Mayor Sadiq Khan has piled pressure on the UK government over Israel as he called on ministers to “immediately recognize Palestinian statehood.”

Khan said that the UK “must do far more to pressure the Israeli government to stop this horrific senseless killing,” as aid groups have warned of starvation in the Gaza Strip.

It comes as the archbishop of York labelled the situation in Gaza a “a stain on the conscience of the international community.”

More than 100 organizations including Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and Save the Children have put their names to an open letter in which they said they were watching their own colleagues, as well as the Palestinians they serve, “waste away.”

“The government of Israel’s restrictions, delays and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation and death,” the letter said.

In a statement posted on X on Wednesday, Khan of the Labour party said pointed to “starving children searching hopelessly for food in the rubble” and “family members being shot dead by Israeli soldiers as they search for aid.”

“The international community – including our own government – must do far more to pressure the Israeli government to stop this horrific senseless killing and let vital life saving aid in,” he added.

Khan went on: “The UK must immediately recognize Palestinian statehood. There can be no two state solution if there is no viable state left to call Palestine.”

Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said that the mayor should “should spend less time trying to play on the world stage” and “focus on fixing his own mess in the capital.”

Meanwhile the current most senior bishop in the Church of England has branded the infliction of “violence, starvation and dehumanization” on the people of Gaza by the Israeli government “depraved and unconscionable.”

Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell welcomed the UK and other nations’ recent condemnation of the Israeli and US-backed current aid delivery model, which has reportedly resulted in Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops firing on Palestinian civilians in search of food on multiple occasions, but insisted there is “no time to wait” for further action to be taken to “stop this ongoing assault on Gaza.”

He said: “With each passing day in Gaza, the violence, starvation and dehumanisation being inflicted on the civilian population by the government of Israel becomes more depraved and unconscionable.

“In the name of God, I cry out against this barbaric assault on human life and dignity. It is a stain on the conscience of the international community, and a flagrant breach of international humanitarian law.”

He repeated his call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the release of all hostages and said he rejected “any policy that would amount to the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population from Gaza.”

World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that people in Gaza are facing “yet another killer on top of bombs and bullets: starvation.”

In a post on X on Wednesday evening, Tedros said that UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting had “reach[ed] out” and expressed “support for WHO colleagues in Gaza.”

In response, Streeting said, “We stand with health-care workers in Gaza who are doing lifesaving work in most unimaginably challenging and horrific circumstances.”

Speaking in the House of Commons, the health secretary described Israel’s attacks on health-care workers as going “well beyond legitimate self-defence.”

He told members of parliament (MPs) he hopes “that the international community can come together, as the foreign secretary has been driving towards, to make sure that we see an end to this war, but also the recognition of the state of Palestine while there’s still a state of Palestine left to recognize.”

Foreign Secretary David Lammy has hinted that Israel could face further sanctions from the UK if it does not agree to a ceasefire.

Asked by ITV’s “Good Morning Britain” on Tuesday what more he planned to do if Israel did not agree to end the conflict, the foreign secretary replied: “Well, we’ve announced a raft of sanctions over the last few months.

“There will be more, clearly, and we keep all of those options under consideration if we do not see a change in behaviour and the suffering that we are seeing come to an end.”

Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people in the October 7 attack in 2023 that triggered the war and killed around 1,200 people.

Fewer than half of the 50 hostages still in Gaza are believed to be alive.