UK changes travel advice wording to 'Palestine'

Several major European countries recognised Palestine as a state yesterday (Picture: Getty Images Europe)

The UK Government’s travel advice for the ‘Occupied Palestinian Territories’ has been changed to ‘Palestine’ for the first time.

The phrase refers to how parts of Palestine – the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem – have been occupied by Israel since 1967.

The advice is largely unchanged, cautioning against travel to Gaza and some parts of the West Bank and Golan Heights.

UN officials say a famine is happening in Gaza (Picture: YAD BABA/AFP/Getty Images)

The home of a recently killed Palestinian was demolished by Israeli forces at Aqaba village in the West Bank (Picture: EPA)

Starmer said: ‘The hope for a two-state solution is fading, but we cannot let that light go out.’

Australia, Canada and Portugal also made similar announcements on the eve of the annual gathering of the UN General Assembly.

To recognise a would-be state means that the region has four elements: a stable population, defined boundaries, a government and an ability to carry out international affairs.

Of the 193 UN members, 147 recognise a Palestinian state. France said it will vote to do the same this week.

While recognition is a mainly symbolic act of support, the move from the UK only piles the pressure on Israel amid its war against Hamas.

At least 65,500 Palestinians have been killed and 166,800 injured since the war began on October 7, 2023, the Gaza health ministry said today.

Throughout the war, Israel has continued to have control over what comes into the coastal enclave, including food, fuel and humanitarian supplies.

Gazans are at ‘critical risk of famine’ and tens of thousands of children will suffer malnutrition if Israel does not let aid into the strip, UN-backed experts said this month.

Starmer said in July his final decision to recognise Palestine as a state hinged on Israel addressing the aid crisis, signing a ceasefire agreement with Hamas to secure the release of the remaining 48 hostages and pursuing a two-state solution.

Israel has since expanded its combat towards Gaza City, as well as attack Hamas chiefs in Qatar, a Gulf state where peace talks have taken place.

Israel has occupied the West Bank for nearly six decades (Picture: EPA)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the international criticism, calling it ‘false propaganda’.

He has repeatedly vowed to escalate the war in Gaza and turbocharge the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

On Sunday, he said: ‘It will not happen. A Palestinian state will not be established west of the Jordan River.’

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