UK MPs call for immediate recognition of Palestine, slam Gaza displacement plans

Nearly 60 UK Labour MPs have urged Foreign Secretary David Lammy and the Foreign Office to immediately recognise Palestine as a state, warning that Gaza is undergoing ethnic cleansing and calling for urgent diplomatic action.

In a letter reported by The Guardian on Saturday, the MPs demanded formal recognition of Palestinian statehood in direct response to the Israeli defence minister’s controversial plan to forcibly displace Gaza’s population into what he described as a “humanitarian city” built on the ruins of Rafah in southern Gaza.

On Monday, Israel Katz revealed that the plan would involve relocating around 600,000 Palestinians in an initial phase to a fenced-off zone constructed on Rafah’s rubble once a ceasefire is reached.

The area would subject civilians to strict security screening and restrict their movement, in what critics see as part of a broader effort to push Gaza’s residents out of the territory altogether.