Overview

• Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel fulfils specified conditions
• Malcolm Shaw KC advised that unilateral recognition could unsettle the international legal order by setting a problematic precedent
• Conservative figures including Boris Johnson have condemned the plan as politically motivated and lacking a clear path to peace
• Hamas insists it will not disarm without an independent, sovereign Palestinian state with defined borders and Jerusalem as its capital
• The United Nations reports severe humanitarian distress in Gaza, with blocked aid and mass starvation adding urgency to calls for policy shifts