LONDON: Britain will formally recognize a Palestinian state this weekend, after US President Donald Trump, who opposes the decision, has left the country at the end of his state visit, the Times newspaper reported.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned in July that it would take the action unless Israel took steps to relieve suffering in Gaza and reached a ceasefire in its nearly two-year war with Hamas.
Israel says recognizing a Palestinian state, which France, Canada, and Australia have also said they will do this month, would reward Hamas.
The Times, without citing its sources, said Britain would make an announcement once Trump has completed his trip on Thursday. Britain’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In July, Trump, who is currently enjoying an unprecedented second state visit to Britain, said he did not mind if Britain made such a move, but since then the US has made clear its opposition to any such action by its European allies.
Starmer, who is under pressure from some in his Labour Party to take a harder line against Israel, had said Britain would recognize Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly next week unless Israel took substantive steps to alleviate the situation in Gaza.
Britain has long supported the policy of a “two-state solution” for ending the conflict in the region but previously said this could only come when the time was right.
Britain will recognize Palestinian state this weekend, Times reports
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Britain will recognize Palestinian state this weekend, Times reports
- Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned in July that it would take the action unless Israel took steps to relieve suffering in Gaza
- Starmer is under pressure from some in his Labour Party to take a harder line against Israel
Ukraine, Russia exchange POWs for first time in months
- The two sides have in the past conducted several rounds of prisoner swaps
- “Today’s exchange came after a long pause, and it is critical that we were able to make it happen,” Zelensky said
KYIV: Ukraine and Russia have conducted their first prisoner exchange in months, each releasing at least 157 people, both countries said Thursday, amid US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi aimed at ending the war.
The two sides have in the past conducted several rounds of prisoner swaps, one of the rare areas of direct cooperation between Ukraine and Russia amid the four-year war, but last month Kyiv accused Moscow of halting the exchanges.
On Thursday, amid three-way talks in Abu Dhabi, the countries swapped 157 captured soldiers and civilians each in an exchange mediated by Washington — the first since October.
“Today’s exchange came after a long pause, and it is critical that we were able to make it happen. I thank everyone who works to make these exchanges possible,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.
Images he posted showed the released prisoners, their heads freshly shaven, wrapped in Ukrainian flags and smiling amid falling snow.
Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said among the 157 Ukrainians released “are seven civilians and those whom the Russians unlawfully convicted.”
Zelensky’s aide Kyrylo Budanov said that in the group of the freed prisoners were 19 Ukrainians “who were illegally sentenced, 15 of them to life imprisonment.”
Russia, who said the United States and United Arab Emirates acted as mediators for the exchange, announced earlier it had handed over 157 Ukrainian soldiers and that 157 Russian servicemen were returned.
“In addition, three Russian citizens, residents of the Kursk region... will be returned home,” the Russian defense ministry said in a statement.
Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s western Kursk region in 2024.
