Palestinians must be allowed home to Gaza, PM says

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said Palestinians “must be allowed home” after President Donald Trump proposed a US takeover of Gaza.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir was asked about a proposal by Trump, who suggested the US could turn Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.

The idea has been widely condemned, with US allies such as Saudi Arabia and France rejecting the plan.

Sir Keir said the UK government supported a two-state solution to resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

During PMQs, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said “many of us were alarmed” to hear President Trump’s comments and branded his statement “dangerous”.

Sir Ed asked the prime minister whether he would set out his concerns to the White House.

In response, Sir Keir said the the most important issue was the continuation of the Gaza ceasefire deal negotiated between Israel and Hamas.

“That means that the remaining hostages coming out and the aid that’s desperately needed goes into Gaza at speed and at the volumes that are needed,” the PM said.

He said he was struck by recent images of the release of Emily Damari, a British-Israeli woman who was held hostage by Hamas for 15 months, and thousands of Palestinians walking home through the Gaza rubble.

“They must be allowed home, they must be allowed to rebuild,” he told MPs.

“And we should be with them in that rebuild on the way to that two-state solution.”

The PM’s comments echo those of Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who earlier said it was “clear that Gaza is lying in rubble”.

Lammy was asked about Trump’s remarks during a visit to Kyiv in Ukraine on Wednesday, and said: “We’ve always been clear in our belief that we must see two states.

“We must see Palestinians able to live and prosper in their homelands in Gaza, in the West Bank. That is what we want to get to.”

The UK government is walking a diplomatic tightrope with Trump, as it balances its response to his announcements.

The PM and the US president have spoken since Trump’s inauguration and a trip to Washington is expected within weeks, Lammy recently suggested.

Much of Gaza’s infrastructure has been destroyed over more than a year of war between Israel and Hamas.

In January, Israel and Hamas agreed a deal to halt the war and release Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.

President Trump spoke about his plans for the future of Gaza at a White House news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday.

He said: “The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too. We’ll own it.”

He said Palestinians could be resettled away from Gaza, “in areas where the leaders currently say no”.

Jordan and Egypt have rejected the idea of resettlement, while the Palestinian ambassador to the UN said “our homeland is our homeland”.