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DUBAI/LONDON: A declaration of famine in Gaza has shocked world leaders and intensified calls for immediate action. On Tuesday, a UN-backed food security monitor confirmed that large areas of the enclave are now experiencing full-scale famine, prompting outrage at the international conference on Palestine.

The grim update was followed by a major diplomatic shift when the UK announced it would recognize the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September — unless Israel halts its military campaign and commits to a viable two-state solution before then. 

“The devastation in Gaza is heartbreaking. Children are starving, and Israel’s drip feeding of aid has horrified the world,” said David Lammy, the UK foreign minister. “It is a historical injustice which continues to unfold.

“It is with the hand of history on our shoulders that His Majesty’s government, therefore, intends to recognize the State of Palestine when the UN General Assembly gathers in September … unless the Israeli government acts to end the appalling situation in Gaza, ends its military campaign, and commits to a long sustainable peace based on a two-state solution.”

The UK’s statement, foreshadowed by the Palestinian prime minister on Monday and mirrored shortly after by San Marino, reflects mounting frustration over Israel’s conduct in both Gaza and the West Bank.

That shift became starker on Tuesday after the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative, a UN-backed monitor, declared that famine had spread across large swaths of Gaza. The declaration comes despite recent Israeli-announced efforts to increase aid deliveries, including airdrops and a temporary pause in military operations.

“The worst-case scenario of famine is now unfolding in the Gaza Strip,” the IPC said. “Immediate, unimpeded” humanitarian access into Gaza was the only way to stop rapidly rising “starvation and death,” it added.

In a press briefing shortly after Prime Minister Keir Starmer reaffirmed the UK’s position, Lammy added that the world was “deeply offended by children being shot and killed as they reach out for aid.”

“The time has come for a ceasefire. The time has come to see those hostages released, and the time has come to abate the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza.”

But Prime Minister Starmer’s own statement was aimed squarely at Israel, showing just how swiftly sentiment has changed among Western countries about how to end the war.

Britain followed in the steps of France, which announced last week that it would recognize an independent Palestinian state at the General Assembly in September.

“The situation is simply intolerable,” Starmer said. “I am particularly concerned that the very idea of a two-state solution is reducing and feels further away today than it has for many years.”

Gaza’s health authorities say the death toll has surpassed 60,000 — a figure that other humanitarian organizations believe is likely an underestimate.

Representatives from several countries in the Middle East stressed the need for urgent and immediate action. 

The UAE’s minister of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Khalifa Shaheen Al-Marar, said on Tuesday: “After 21 months since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, it is time to move from mere attempts to contain the conflict to addressing its root causes.”

Echoing similar concerns, Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya said: “We are witnessing a tragic humanitarian situation that no living conscience can accept.”

Yemen’s Foreign Minister Shaya Mohsin Zindani also emphasized the severity of the crisis, saying it underscores “our shared responsibility to safeguard human dignity and the fundamental rights to life, liberty, and security for all peoples of the region.”

Despite Israel’s announcement on Sunday of a limited military pause in parts of the enclave, UN officials and Palestinians on the ground report that conditions remain dire. Desperate crowds continue to intercept and unload aid trucks before they reach their destinations amid deep mistrust in the official distribution channels and sheer desperation.

Delegates at the conference have repeatedly called on Israel to fully lift restrictions on aid entering Gaza. The demand for peace and aid access echoed throughout Tuesday’s plenary session and dominated discussions in the corridors of the UN headquarters.

“The war must end… the humanitarian crisis and starvation must end. This cycle of violence and destruction must stop,” said Ronald Ozzy Lamola, South Africa’s minister for international relations and cooperation.

Gaza has teetered on the edge of famine for nearly two years, with Israel accused of tightly controlling aid and “drip-feeding” supplies into the Strip. Now, the IPC says increasingly severe blockades have pushed the crisis beyond the brink. 

While formal famine declarations are rare — requiring data that access restrictions have made nearly impossible to collect — many say no official confirmation is needed to grasp the scale of suffering.

“Gaza has become a land of walking corpses,” said Bolivia’s Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa Lunda. “Hundreds of people have been killed while they were on their way to find food and water.”

The challenge of engaging Israel, not only to increase aid access but to find a diplomatic resolution, has been a recurring theme during the New York conference. On Monday, Jordan’s representative said that if there is a party “preventing us from moving forward, then it is about time the world took action against that party.”

“The continued military aggression and a disregard for humanitarian and legal principles represents an inability of the international community to perform its duties, and it encourages impunity,” said Kuwaiti FM Al-Yahya, calling for “immediate and effective” action against Israel.

In a rare break with Israel, US President Donald Trump — speaking during a visit to Scotland — acknowledged that “real starvation” is spreading in Gaza. He urged Israel to allow “every ounce of food” in and said its government bears “a lot of responsibility” for the crisis.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously dismissed such claims as a “bold-faced lie.”

The US and Israel are among the few countries boycotting the three-day event, with Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon dismissing it as “unproductive” and “disconnected from reality.”

US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce called the gathering “a publicity stunt that comes in the middle of delicate diplomatic efforts.”

In response, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot pushed back against Washington’s framing of the Abraham Accords as a substitute for Palestinian statehood. “We do not share those reservations,” he said. “The logic of normalization cannot be stopped — but it must be anchored in a comprehensive peace effort. We believe the US will, in time, return to that logic.”

Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi foreign minister, said: “We continue to have faith in President Trump’s ability to help deliver — not just an end to the war, but a long-term resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Meanwhile, Israeli officials have signaled growing resistance to the two-state framework. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar dismissed the conference’s premise outright, claiming a Palestinian state would, at this stage, become a “Hamas state.”

“Israel will not be the Czechoslovakia of the 21st century,” he added, referencing the peaceful 1993 split between the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Sa’ar declined to comment on whether Israel plans to annex parts of Gaza, calling it an “internal discussion.” But according to Haaretz, Netanyahu is expected to present a formal annexation plan to his security cabinet if Hamas does not agree to a ceasefire. The plan, reportedly endorsed by the Trump administration, is seen as an attempt to shore up support from far-right coalition partners.

Such a move would come just days after the Knesset voted 71-13 in favor of annexing the West Bank — a symbolic step that raised further doubts over the potential for a Palestinian state.

The implementation of a two-state solution is key to “achieving security, stability, and prosperity for all peoples of the region,” said Prince Faisal in his opening remarks on Monday.

On Tuesday, he urged participating states to adopt the conference’s final outcome document, which outlines proposals across humanitarian, legal, and security pillars to guarantee peace and mutual recognition.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa was more direct: Israel’s intentions to annex Palestine and weaken its government are clear; hence, the international community must move beyond “condemnation and denunciation” to forcing “Israel to cease its annexation practices settlement.”