The United Kingdom, Germany and France are calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza and “unconditional release of all hostages,” after the three countries held an emergency call to discuss the ongoing war and humanitarian crisis.
“The humanitarian catastrophe that we are witnessing in Gaza must end now. The most basic needs of the civilian population, including access to water and food, must be met without any further delay. Withholding essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable,” the countries said in a joint statement.
The countries called for a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the removal of Hamas leadership as “key steps” toward a two-state solution.
“We firmly oppose all efforts to impose Israeli sovereignty over the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Threats of annexation, settlements and acts of settler violence against Palestinians undermine the prospects for a negotiated two-state solution. We are committed to working together with our international partners including at the United Nations to develop a specific and credible plan for the next phase in Gaza that will put in place transitional governance and security arrangements, and ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid at scale,” the countries said.
A displaced Palestinian child sits next to a pot of lentil soup that he received at a food distribution point in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on July 25, 2025.
Omar Al-qattaa/AFP via Getty Images
Getting aid into Gaza
Amid calls for greater assistance, Israel has said it will coordinate airdrops of aid into Gaza from foreign countries in the coming days, an Israeli security official confirmed to ABC News Friday, ahead of the scheduled emergency call over the dire conditions in the enclave.
So far, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates will be participating in the aid drops.
Aid drops have taken place a number of times in the Gaza Strip since the war began, and on multiple occasions have led to deaths and injuries, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini warned airdrops are the “most expensive and inefficient way to deliver aid,” calling them a “distraction to the inaction.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross called for “urgent collective action by states to end abhorrent suffering in Gaza,” saying people are being “relentlessly killed in hostilities and while attempting to get food,” in a statement Friday.
“There is no excuse for what is happening in Gaza. The scale of human suffering and the stripping of human dignity have long exceeded every acceptable standard – both legal and moral. Every minute without a ceasefire risks civilian lives. The level of suffering inflicted on civilians because of warfare conducted indiscriminately and the extreme deprivation of the essentials for survival is abhorrent,” the ICRC said in a statement Friday.
“This tragedy must end now – immediately and decisively. Every political hesitation, every attempt at justification of the horrors being committed under international watch will forever be judged as a collective failure to preserve humanity in war. States must uphold their obligation under the Geneva Conventions to respect and ensure respect for international humanitarian law (IHL), including by ensuring that the arms they transfer do not contribute to violations of IHL,” the ICRC said. .
Smoke and fire rise to the sky following an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, July 24, 2025.
Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
France says it will recognize ‘State of Palestine’
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday, “It is essential to build the State of Palestine, ensure its viability, and enable it, by accepting its demilitarization and fully recognizing Israel, to contribute to the security of all in the Middle East.”
“There must be an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and massive humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. It is also necessary to ensure the demilitarization of Hamas, secure and rebuild Gaza,” Macron continued.
Macron said he would make the official announcement at the U.N. in September. Starmer signaled the same British support.
“We are clear that statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people. A ceasefire will put us on a path to the recognition of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution which guarantees peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis,” Starmer said.
Israel condemned France’s decision, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying, “Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became. A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel — not to live in peace beside it. Let’s be clear: the Palestinians do not seek a state alongside Israel; they seek a state instead of Israel.”
A woman and a child react after identifying the body of a family member at the Nasser hospital, among Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on the al-Mawasi refugee camp and the eastern neighborhoods of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, on July 24, 2025.
AFP via Getty Images
The U.S. State Department rejected the idea that Israel — and by extension the U.S. — is weaponizing aid to Palestinians in Gaza amid rising criticism from the United Nations and humanitarian groups.
“This humanitarian conflict lies at the feet of Hamas, who could end this conflict today by releasing the hostages and laying down their arms,” State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott said Thursday.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said “there is no famine” in Gaza, in an online briefing Wednesday.
Mencer blamed Hamas and called the food crisis in Gaza “a man-made shortage engineered by Hamas.”
Pigott touted the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — though its distribution sites are in limited areas in Gaza and aid groups say the supplies provided through the GHF is not nearly enough to address the crushing need.
The U.N. and other aid organizations have refused to collaborate with the group, citing concerns about its transparency and political impartiality.
“This is over 1000 plus since the 27th of May when the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started distributing food and people have been shot both while trying to collect food in these distribution centers where Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distributes, but also when there have been UN convoys and other aid convoys getting into Gaza and people have tried to jump on those trucks and have been shot and killed,” Ajith Sunghay, from the Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said.
“Ultimately, what we have seen us do is deliver close to 90 million meals into Gaza during the war zone, [and] the ability to deliver that aid in a way where it is not being looted by Hamas,” he said.
“We want to see an end to the devastation that has taken place in Gaza. That’s why we have seen this commitment to get aid to the people who need it in a way where it is not weaponized by Hamas. That commitment remains. It is a commitment from President [Donald] Trump and Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio. That is why we have supported the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,” Pigott said.
Pigott said the administration was continuing to call on “other entities to step up in working through this mechanism in order to deliver aid to the people of Gaza without it being looted by Hamas.”
More than 1,000 people have also been killed by Israeli gunfire near aid distribution sites in Gaza, according to the United Nations. Most of those are operated by GHF, which opened its aid distribution sites on May 27.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement earlier this month, its troops fired near crowds “in order to remove an immediate threat posed to them,” though it wasn’t specific.
Israeli officials have long accused Hamas of seizing humanitarian goods and selling them to fund militant activity. Hamas denies those claims.
