The United Kingdom used its latest intervention at the UN Security Council to restate support for the Ad-Hoc Liaison Committee and to welcome the recent Brussels discussion on Palestinian governance and recovery. The statement treated the current crisis not only as an emergency, but also as a narrow window to implement the 20 Point Plan for Gaza and reconnect ceasefire management with a longer-term political settlement. The British delegation said a briefing from Sir Tony had set out how that pathway could be delivered. The wider message was that short-term stabilisation and a credible political track cannot be handled as separate files if the declared objective remains a two-state solution.
The first element of the UK case was ceasefire implementation. London said all parties should fulfil existing commitments, respect the ceasefire and engage constructively on phase two of President Trump's 20 Point Peace Plan, which the statement linked to Security Council resolution 2803 and to the wider effort to move beyond temporary de-escalation. In policy terms, the UK described phase two as a sequenced security transition rather than a single political declaration. It said that transition should include the demilitarisation of Hamas and other armed groups, deployment of an International Stabilisation Force alongside a Palestinian-led police force, and the withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces from Gaza.
The statement also repeated the UK's position that Hamas should have no future role in Gaza's governance. It urged the group to engage constructively in the demilitarisation talks now taking place, while also pointing to the need for transitional civil arrangements that can function immediately if security steps begin to take effect. For that reason, the UK called for the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza and the Palestinian Authority to work together on immediate needs, early recovery and reconstruction. The practical point is clear: donor support, service restoration and basic public order all depend on an accepted interim authority that can make decisions and carry them through on the ground.
Humanitarian access formed the second main strand of the intervention. The UK said the humanitarian situation in Palestine remained grave, citing the World Food Programme's warning that famine had not returned to Gaza but that food and nutrition conditions remained deeply concerning. It also pointed to UN reporting showing that aid entering Gaza from the UN and its humanitarian partners in the first quarter of the year was 37 per cent lower than in the previous three months. In the British reading, that decline means the humanitarian targets set out in the 20 Point Plan are not being met, even while diplomatic attention remains fixed on the ceasefire.
The statement then turned to access restrictions. It said the Israeli government's de-registration measures affecting international non-governmental organisations were constricting the humanitarian space at the point when medical equipment, shelter items and fuel remained necessary for basic civilian services. London's position was that the UN, including UNRWA, and other humanitarian partners should be able to operate unimpeded, with functioning crossings and unrestricted entry. That is a test of implementation as much as relief policy: without regular access for staff and supplies, hospitals, shelters and essential services cannot be stabilised for any meaningful recovery phase.
The third element was the position in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where the UK said conditions were worsening sharply. The statement referred to rising violence, reports of sexual and gender-based violence, forced displacement and illegal evictions, presenting these not as isolated incidents but as part of a broader deterioration in civilian protection. Citing figures from OCHA, the UK said Israeli forces and settlers killed 33 Palestinians and injured 790 others in the first few months of the year. It also highlighted the killing of Jihad Abu Naim and Aws al-Naasan, who were shot by an Israeli settler in a school the previous week. The statement noted that Aws was 14 years old.
The UK said it deplored those acts of settler violence and noted that the Israeli government had condemned the attack and launched an investigation. It also made clear that accountability for earlier incidents had been seriously lacking, and that condemnation would carry limited weight unless matched by preventive action, civilian protection in line with international law and credible accountability where crimes have been committed. The same argument was applied to the wider policy setting in the West Bank. The statement criticised the pace of illegal settlement expansion and severe Israeli economic restrictions, warning that both undermine the 20 Point Plan and the viability of a two-state outcome. Its closing message was that the parties should engage in good faith, accept the administrative and political steps needed for implementation, and use the present opening before conditions deteriorate further.