UK MPs urge Foreign Secretary Lammy to recognize Palestinian state

Nearly 60 Labour Members of UK Parliament have sent a letter to Foreign Secretary David Lammy, calling on the government to immediately recognize Palestine as a state and to take urgent action to halt what they describe as "ethnic cleansing" in Gaza.

The appeal, made public on Saturday, July 12, 2025, signals growing pressure within the Labour Party for a stronger stance on the “Israel”-Palestine conflict.

Organized by the Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East, the letter was signed by 59 MPs from both centrist and left-wing factions.

It specifically urged Lammy to intervene swiftly against “Israel's” reported plan to establish a "humanitarian city" of tents in the ruins of Rafah in southern Gaza.

The MPs warned that this plan amounts to the forcible transfer of civilians and the erasure of Palestinian presence, describing it as an "operational plan for crimes against humanity."

The lawmakers emphasized that by not recognizing Palestine as a state, the UK undermines its own stated policy of a two-state solution and tacitly accepts the continuation of the status quo, which they believe leads to the "effective erasure and annexation of Palestinian territory."

Their demands extend beyond recognition, calling for the restoration of funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), support for captives releases, and the imposition of a trade blockade on goods produced in “Israeli” settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The UK government, now under a Labour administration, has not yet formally altered its position on Palestinian statehood, maintaining that recognition should come at a time most conducive to a peace process.