Sir Keir Starmer to press Donald Trump on Gaza ceasefire in Scotland meeting
Sir Keir Starmer is expected to press Donald Trump to push for a ceasefire in Gaza when they meet in Scotland today.
The US President is on a private trip at Trump Turnberry, Girvan, Ayrshire, where he has been playing golf and also met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The Prime Minister will travel up to the hotel today to meet Mr Trump, before the pair head for a private engagement in Aberdeen.
The leaders are expected to discuss progress on implementing the UK-US trade deal, hopes for a ceasefire in the Middle East and applying pressure on Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.
No10 said the pair will talk about “what more can be done to secure the ceasefire urgently, bring an end to the unspeakable suffering and starvation in Gaza and free the hostages who have been held so cruelly for so long”.
Ceasefire talks in Qatar ground to a standstill this week after America and Israel withdrew negotiating teams from the country, with US special envoy Steve Witkoff accusing Hamas of a “lack of desire” to reach an agreement.
The deal under discussion was expected to include a 60-day ceasefire, and aid supplies would be ramped up as conditions for a lasting truce were brokered.
Sir Keir will raise Washington’s work with partners in Qatar and Egypt during his talks with Mr Trump and seek to discuss what more can be done to urgently bring about a ceasefire, it is understood.
Mr Trump’s visit comes as shocking images have emerged from Gaza in recent days of emaciated children.
These have increased global criticism of Israel, including by close allies, who have called for an end to the war and the humanitarian catastrophe it has spawned.
Food experts have warned for months of the risk of famine in Gaza, where Israel has restricted aid because it says Hamas siphons off goods to help bolster its rule.
Britain is working with Jordan to airdrop aid into Gaza and evacuate children needing medical assistance, with military planners deployed for further support.
However, the head of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency has warned that such efforts are “a distraction” that will fail to properly address deepening starvation in the strip, and could in some cases harm civilians.
Israel has now said it will pause fighting in three populated areas of Gaza and establish humanitarian corridors to enable UN convoys to transport aid to desperate Palestinians, as well as allowing airdrops.
In a statement, the country’s military said it would enable “safe movement of deliveries of food and medicine” but that it “emphasises that combat operations have not ceased”.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) also said that there was “no starvation” in Gaza, despite increasing accounts of malnutrition and starvation-related deaths.
Sir Keir is under pressure at home to immediately recognise a Palestinian state, following a letter from 221 MPs, co-ordinated by Rotherham MP Sarah Champion.
The letter said recognition “would send a powerful symbolic message that we support the rights of the Palestinian people”.
While the PM said he was “unequivocal” about wanting to see a Palestinian state, he insisted this needed to be part of a “wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis”.