Image source, Getty Images

Reaction to Keir Starmer's announcement that the UK intends to recognise Palestinian statehood in September, unless Israel meets a number of conditions in the coming months, dominated most of the day's news.

The move, welcomed by some, has drawn criticism from others. Families of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza say the plan "amounts to rewarding terrorism".

Emily Thornberry, chair of the UK Parliament's Foreign Affairs Select Committee, however, described it as a "major change in British foreign policy" and "absolutely the right thing to do".

Meanwhile, the situation in Gaza is not getting better.

In the last 24 hours, more than 100 people have been killed, seven more have died from malnutrition, and 60 people have died while trying to get aid, reports Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.

Hospital sources earlier told the BBC that six Palestinians were killed near a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution centre. The Israeli military disputes the deaths.

Aid continues to trickle into the enclave - sources told the BBC just over 100 trucks entered Gaza yesterday, while Israel said more than 220 lorries entered - but Palestinians in Gaza say this is still "very limited amounts".

We are now ending our live coverage for the day, but you can stay across further updates in our main news story.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Image source, EPA

A White House official has confirmed that US envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Israel on Thursday.

Once there, he is expected to meet with officials to discuss "next steps" on Gaza.

Earlier this week, Witkoff reportedly met with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi in Florida.

The trip will mark Witkoff's first to Israel in nearly three months, and comes amid increasing alarm over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Less than a week ago, Witkoff announced on X that the US was recalling its delegation from ceasefire talks, accusing Hamas of not appearing to be "coordinated or acting in good faith."

"We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza," he wrote on X at the time.

Image source, Reuters

The prime minister has been speaking to leaders from across the globe, with many of them welcoming his decision to recognise Palestinian statehood in September unless Israel changes course.

One diplomat who also strongly supports Keir Starmer's announcement is the Palestinians' top envoy to the UK, Husam Zomlot.

Reacting shortly after Starmer spoke on Tuesday, Zomlot remarked that it was an "important day in the history of the Palestinian people".

"[Tuesday] will be remembered in the long history of the Palestinian people towards justice, towards freedom, towards liberty, towards dignity, towards equality," Zomlot says in a video shared on X.

"We also remember and thank the British people for this long support, for the solidarity, for the love and for pressuring all involved to get to this point."

Harry Farley
Political correspondent

Image source, PA Media

The UK's chief rabbi has said the government's intention to recognise a Palestinian state "undermines the cause of peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis alike".

Ephraim Mirvis says in a post on X it would "only disincentivise Hamas from agreeing to a ceasefire".

He adds: "The asymmetry of establishing a clear ultimatum for Israel but not for Hamas is an unfathomable misstep."

"I implore our government to apply unyielding pressure where it belongs - on Hamas, the single greatest danger to the population of Gaza and the principal obstacle to peace."

Image source, Getty Images

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has spoken to several world leaders in the last 24 hours about his proposal to recognise a Palestinian state, Downing Street says.

This includes:

• Australia: A Downing Street spokeswoman says Starmer spoke to PM Anthony Albanese this morning "setting out the UK's framework for peace and reiterated his focus on ensuring that recognition was not a gesture, but a driver for real change that ensured a viable two-state solution"
• New Zealand: He also spoke to New Zealand PM Christopher Luxon, who agreed with Starmer on the importance of working together to secure a ceasefire, the release of hostages and ensuring "Hamas did not play a role in a future state"
• The United Arab Emirates: While speaking to President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed last night, the two leaders "agreed that a viable and sovereign Palestinian state living alongside a safe and secure Israel can be the only basis for a just and lasting peace"

Lucy Manning
Special correspondent

Steve Brisley’s British-Israeli sister and nieces Lianne, Noiya and Yahel Sharabi were murdered on 7 October 2023.

His brother-in-law, Eli Sharabi, was released as a hostage earlier this year - looking emaciated and weak.

Eli’s brother Yossi’s body is still being held hostage by Hamas.

Brisley, speaking from Wales, told me he was "disappointed" with the prime minister’s statement and there should be no recognition of a Palestinian state unless the hostages are released.

"My concern about the statement is that it potentially incentivises Hamas to continue to hold those hostages, just waiting until September, until a Palestinian state is recognised by the UK.

"There is a deadline set for what is expected of Israel, but no similar deadline set for what is expected from Hamas. A precursor to any settlement has to be the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages."

Brisley added it had long been his position that the suffering on both sides had to end but this wasn’t the way the prime minister should aim to achieve it.

"I think we need clarity that the release of the hostages will bring this to an end. The release of hostages must be immediate and unconditional, and there can be no recognition of a Palestinian state before those hostages are released.

"So what I think we need our prime minister to say is that the deadline for Israel to take action has to be met also by Hamas, and in the absence of Hamas releasing the hostages, then that September deadline cannot hold."

"This is a good question," BBC Gaza correspondent Rushdi Abu Alouf says when asked why Israel doesn't allow international journalists into Gaza.

Watch below as he outlines the situation for foreign media seeking to report from Gaza.

Our experts are now done answering your questions on Israel and Gaza, which were put to them through Your Voice, Your BBC News.

Another reader asks: what would a Palestinian state look like?

Here, the BBC's Middle East correspondent Hugo Bachega explains:

One reader asks: what does recognition of a Palestinian state mean?

The BBC's diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams answers below:

The past couple of days have seen a change in stance from some key players in the international community in regards to the war in Gaza.

The UK government announced yesterday that it will recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel takes "substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza".

Israel warned that if the UK were to go ahead with its plans, they'd be rewarding Hamas for carrying out its attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

The news came on the same day as a UN-backed food security body warned that the "worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out" in the Gaza Strip, as people are dying of malnutrition.

Starting at 15:30 BST, our team of experts will begin poring over your questions about the war in Gaza. You'll be hearing from:

• Diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams
• Gaza correspondent Rushdi Abualouf
• Middle East correspondent Hugo Bachega

We'll bring you updates here with some of their answers, but you can also watch live at the top of our page.

Last night, Keir Starmer announced that the UK will recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel meets certain conditions. Since then, reaction from across the globe and the political spectrum has been pouring in.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, seven more people have died as a result of malnutrition, the Hamas-run health ministry says.

Here's what else has been happening today:

• The Hamas-run health ministry's death toll relating to malnutrition now stands at 154 after seven further deaths were recorded within the last day - 89 children are included in this figure
• Sources told the BBC just over 100 trucks entered Gaza yesterday - Israel says more than 220 lorries entered and are waiting to be collected
• Meanwhile, international aid organisations have been raising the alarm for several days now - this morning, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews added to that as he called for a "rapid, uninhibited and sustained increase in aid"
• The current situation in Gaza was one of the factors that prompted Starmer to announce yesterday that the UK would recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel changed its stance
• It's a move that has been opposed by some - including Israel's Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which echoed the Israeli PM's comments and said recognition "rewards terrorism"
• Others, however, have backed it - senior Labour MP Emily Thornberry said it is "absolutely the right thing to do"

In the last 24 hours, 104 people have been killed in Gaza and a further 399 injured, the Hamas-run health ministry says in its latest update.

The death toll since Israel's military launched a campaign in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023 has risen to 60,138, the ministry says.

Many of those killed and injured are still under rubble and in the streets, the ministry says, adding that ambulance and civil defence teams have been unable to reach them until now.

Mallory Moench
Live reporter

Earlier, we brought you the details about the aid situation in Gaza, as more than 100 international organisations and human rights groups warn of mass starvation in the enclave.

We can now bring you the perspective of an NGO director living in Gaza City, who tells me that there has been "no improvement" in access to food in recent days.

Amjad Shawa, the director of the Palestinian NGOs Network, says that aid is entering Gaza in "very limited amounts" and trucks are being looted by "some gangs and tens of thousands of aid seekers".

He tells me that he is able to buy some flour to make bread and sometimes eats rice or lentils.

Today, if he wanted to purchase 1kg (2.2lb) of tomatoes, it would cost $40 (£29).

He says he is feeling "powerless, weak" as he tries his "best to survive".

Emir Nader
Reporting from Jerusalem

Six Palestinians have been killed near a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution centre in the Rafah area early on Wednesday, hospital sources told the BBC.

Sources in Gaza said that crowds attempted to enter the distribution centre shortly ahead of its opening and were attacked by an Israeli tank.

The GHF told the BBC that no killings took place at or near their sites today.

The Israeli military told the BBC that a “gathering of suspects” who it said posed a threat to its troops were told to move away, and subsequently the army fired “warning shots”. The military disputed the reporting of deaths.

There have been almost daily, deadly incidents reported near GHF aid sites, with Palestinians regularly accusing the Israeli military or security contractors of opening fire at them and killing aid seekers.

Israel has disputed the death tolls.

This comes as seven more deaths from malnutrition have been recorded in the past 24 hours by hospitals in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.

It brings the total number of deaths caused by malnutrition to 154, including 89 children.

On Tuesday, the number of Palestinians killed since the war began on 7 October 2023 surpassed 60,000, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health. Its numbers are considered reliable by the United Nations and international institutions.

The figures mean that the war has left around one in 10 of Gaza’s 2.1 million Palestinians killed, injured or missing.

The Palestinian Mission to the UK, which represents Palestine's interests in Britain, welcomed Starmer's decision to recognise Palestine in a statement posted to social media on Tuesday.

"The UK's recognition carries particular historical and moral weight," the statement says. "It represents the first meaningful step in addressing the deep injustice rooted in the colonial-era Balfour Declaration and the decades of systematic denial of Palestinian rights that followed."

The Balfour Declaration, signed in 1917, was the first time the British government endorsed the establishment of "a national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine.

But it qualified this by saying nothing should "prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities".

Many Palestinians see the declaration as a betrayal by the British, who ruled Palestine at the time following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War One, while many Israelis believe it was a vital foundation stone in the making of modern Israel.

Middle East analyst at private intelligence firm Sybilline, Megan Sutcliffe, has called the announcement that the UK would recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel met certain conditions a "significant step".

However, based on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reaction yesterday, she believes it is "unlikely" the move will increase the pressure on Israel to change its stance.

Speaking with 5 Live Breakfast, Sutcliffe says: "The only country that will be able to truly influence Israel’s actions when it comes to the Palestinian territories, would be the United States."

Sutcliffe adds that around 75% UN members do recognise a Palestinian state - alongside others, such as France, who have said they will do so at the next UN general assembly meeting in September.

"Unfortunately, given the incredibly important relationship between the US and Israel, it would appear in this dynamic, numbers are not necessarily on the side of turning the dial, of shifting the scales," she says.

"Unless we see major pressure from the United States, it’s unlikely we’ll see movement on this issue from Israel and at present, we’re unlikely to see that from the Trump administration."

A little earlier, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said another seven people had died as a result of malnutrition over the previous 24 hours.

There has been a significant rise in malnutrition-related deaths recently, with the World Health Organization (WHO) saying on Sunday that 63 of 74 malnutrition-related deaths in 2025 had occurred in July.

Since then, Gaza's health ministry has reported at least 21 more deaths due to a lack of food. That brought the number of malnutrition-related deaths since the war began to 154, including 89 children.

"Most of these people were declared dead on arrival at health facilities or died shortly after, their bodies showing clear signs of severe wasting," WHO said in a statement.

Humanitarian groups and UN agencies have repeatedly warned that aid needs to get into Gaza without restrictions.

Following the IPC's alert that there's mounting evidence of a famine playing out in Gaza, the World Food Programme's chief executive, Cindy McCain, said "the longer we wait to act, the higher the death toll will rise".

These stark numbers come in tandem to a growing death toll in Gaza as a result of the war, with the number of people killed since 7 October 2023 surpassing 60,000 on Tuesday.

France and 14 other Western nations have called on countries worldwide to move to recognise a Palestinian state.

France's top diplomat, foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot, says his country is issuing "a collective appeal" with other nations during an UN's ongoing conference in New York on the implementation of a two-state solution.

"We express our desire to recognise the state of Palestine and invite those who have not yet done so to join us," he says.

The conference has been the stage for several pronouncements on the ongoing war in Gaza and next steps for Israel and Palestinian territories by key stakeholders over the last few days.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said yesterday that he hopes the UK's move to recognise a Palestinian state in September will "affect the situation on the ground" and lead to a ceasefire in Gaza.

Also on Tuesday, the UK announced it would recognise a Palestinian state if Israel did not agree a ceasefire and take steps to end the war.

At the conference, due to wrap up today, there have also been calls for Hamas to disarm.

Arab countries including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt joined these calls in a bid to end the ongoing war in Gaza.

We've just had an update from Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, which has reported seven more deaths from famine and malnutrition in the last day.

This takes the total death toll from a lack of food since October 2023 to 154, among them 89 children.

Lucy Manning
Special correspondent

Image source, PA Media

Former British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari has accused the prime minister of a “moral failure” after his announcement regarding recognising a Palestinian state.

Emily Damari, who was released in January after being held by Hamas for more than 15 months, says the move “risks rewarding terror” and Keir Starmer “is not standing on the right side of history”.

In a statement posted on social media she says: “Prime Minister Starmer is not standing on the right side of history. Had he been in power during World War II, would he have advocated recognition for Nazi control of occupied countries like Holland, France, or Poland?

"This is not diplomacy-it is a moral failure. Shame on you, Prime Minister!!!!!!”

A second post says: “As a dual British-Israeli citizen who survived 471 days in Hamas captivity, I am deeply saddened by Prime Minister Starmer's decision to recognise Palestinian statehood.

"This move does not advance peace-it risks rewarding terror. It sends a dangerous message: that violence earns legitimacy.

"By legitimising a state entity while Hamas still controls Gaza and continues its campaign of terror, the Prime Minister is not promoting a solution; he is prolonging the conflict.

"Recognition under these conditions emboldens extremists and undermines any hope for genuine peace. Shame on you.!"

This follows a statement from lawyers representing British families with relatives who were or are still hostages, expressing their concerns about Starmer's statement yesterday, claiming it will encourage Hamas to hold onto the hostages.