UK, Jordan aid Gaza via air as pressure for Palestine state builds

Britain is working with Jordan to deliver emergency aid into Gaza by air, as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer comes under mounting pressure to formally recognize the Palestinian state.

A British military planning and logistics team has been deployed to assist Jordan with aid airdrops into the besieged enclave, the BBC reported Saturday.

The move follows Israel's decision to allow foreign countries to carry out airdrops in response to deepening concern over the second year of genocide in Gaza.

"News that Israel will allow countries to airdrop aid into Gaza has come far too late-but we will do everything we can to get aid in via this route," Starmer told The Mirror.

Starmer also said the UK is "urgently accelerating efforts" to evacuate children in Gaza who need critical medical treatment to Britain.

The announcement comes amid renewed calls for London to recognize Palestinian statehood. On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron said France would do so within months.

A letter signed by 220 lawmakers from nine political parties — more than half of them from Starmer's Labour Party — urged the government to formally recognize Palestine.

The international push for recognition has gained momentum over the past year. While 81 countries recognized Palestine in 1988, more joined in the decades that followed. South Africa did so in 1995, Brazil in 2010, Chile in 2011, and Thailand in 2012.

Spain and Ireland announced recognition in 2024, Mexico followed in 2025, and France is expected to join them soon.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, killing over 59,600 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.