{"id":158843,"date":"2025-07-30T12:17:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T12:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/gaza-latest-shame-on-you-freed-british-israeli-hostage-tells-starmer-sky-news\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T12:17:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T12:17:08","slug":"gaza-latest-shame-on-you-freed-british-israeli-hostage-tells-starmer-sky-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/gaza-latest-shame-on-you-freed-british-israeli-hostage-tells-starmer-sky-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaza latest: 'Shame on you,' freed British-Israeli hostage tells Starmer – Sky News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emily Damari, a British-Israeli held hostage by Hamas for 15 months, has criticised Sir Keir Starmer after he said the UK would recognise Palestinian statehood unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza. Follow the latest.
Wednesday 30 July 2025 13:12, UK
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A former British-Israeli hostage has accused Sir Keir Starmer of a “moral failure” with his decision to recognise a Palestinian state if Israel meets certain conditions.
Emily Damari, who was released from captivity in January after being held by Hamas for more than 15 months, said in a post on Instagram: “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.”
She went on to say that the PM’s decision “does not advance peace – it risks rewarding terror” and “sends a dangerous message: that violence earns legitimacy”.
Damari added: “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.!!!”
We spoke earlier on Sky News with UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander in the wake of the PM’s announcement that the UK will recognise a Palestinian state in September – unless Israel improves the situation in Gaza, agrees to a ceasefire, and commits to a long-term sustainable peace, reviving the prospect of a two-state solution.
Sky’s Wilfred Frost<\/a><\/b> asked the senior minister if Palestine would not deserve statehood if Israel does meet the conditions.
She replied that it is always a case of when, not if for recognition, and that pressure needs to be increased on Israel to dramatically improve the situation for civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.
“We’re doing it now because we think that the viability of that two-state solution is fast disappearing because of the actions of Israel,” she said.
“If they want to be at the table to help shape an enduring peace, then they’ve got eight weeks to act.”
‘This isn’t about Hamas’<\/b>
She added that “Hamas also has to act” to release the Israeli hostages it still holds, and to disarm.
But asked for clarification on if Hamas has to meet conditions in order for Palestine to be recognised, she could not say.
“The wounds of 7 October will live forever, in Israel and in the consciousness of the Israeli people,” the minister said.
“This isn’t about Hamas. This is actually about delivering for the Palestinian people and making sure that we can get aid in.”
Israel’s ambassador to the UN says “declarations, empty speeches and conferences” will not bring progress to the Middle East.
Speaking to lead world news presenter Yalda Hakim<\/a>, Danny Danon said the “only hope” for Palestinians was for Israel to bring back its hostages being held in Gaza.
Danon was speaking after the UK announced it would recognise Palestinian statehood by September unless Israel agreed to several conditions, including a ceasefire.
A two-day UN summit has also been taking place in New York this week focused on a two-state solution, which both Israel and the US boycotted.
“We don’t interfere on decisions of other countries,” Danon said. “But with all due respect, all those declarations and the empty speeches and conferences that we are seeing in the UN, they will not bring any progress to the region.”
The only way to “move forward”, he said, is to “bring back the hostages and get rid of Hamas”.
He accused the terror group of repeatedly rejecting a ceasefire, and called upon the UK and France to support Israel’s fight against them.
He argued their stance is instead pushing Hamas into not agreeing to a ceasefire.
Watch the full interview here:
Lawyers for the families of hostages held by Hamas with connections to Britain say they are “deeply concerned that hostages have been made a bargaining chip by the UK” after Keir Starmer outlined the government’s conditional plan to recognise a Palestinian state.
Adam Wagner KC and Adam Rose represent a number of families, including those of Avinatan Or, who is presumed alive and whose mother is British, and Yossi Sharabi, whose body is held by Hamas.
PM warned not to ‘reward’ Hamas<\/b>
They said the families of hostages have “sat in 10 Downing Street with successive prime ministers and foreign secretaries who have looked them in the eyes and promised the UK will do everything in its power to secure the immediate and unconditional release of their loved ones”.
But they are “concerned” that the decision to recognise a Palestinian state in September, should Israel not meet certain conditions, “risks delaying” the release of the remaining hostages.
“This is because the UK has said that it will recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire. But the risk is that Hamas will continue to refuse to a ceasefire because if it agrees to one this would make UK recognition less likely.”
As a result, they are “deeply concerned that the UK’s approach risks disincentivising Hamas from releasing the hostages”, and would “reward Hamas for its heinous and illegal acts”.
Data shared exclusively with Sky News by Gaza’s health ministry allows us, for the first time, to show the date of every death since the war began.
Across almost two years of war, 17 days stand out as the deadliest \u2013 those when more than 450 people died.
Women and children made up a much higher share of deaths on these days than on others.
Looking further into the data, we found out why \u2013 a pattern of strikes on family homes.
Almost half of all people killed on these days (44%) died alongside a family member, compared with less than a third (30%) on other days.
Strikes on families reached their peak on 18 March, accounting for almost two-thirds of all deaths.
The Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas, but most of those killed were women and children.
In order to understand how those strikes led to so many civilian casualties, Sky News analysed all 465 deaths recorded that day by Gaza’s health ministry. 
Hello and welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Gaza.
We’ll bring you the latest updates throughout the day, but here’s what you need to know now:
Follow along for the latest.
Thanks for joining us. We’ll be back tomorrow with all the latest updates.
Before then, here’s a rundown of what’s happened during the last 24 hours:
‘Famine thresholds’ met in parts of Gaza: <\/b>A UN-backed food security body warned today that the “worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in Gaza”.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is an initiative combining charities, governments, UN agencies and NGOs to determine the severity of food insecurity worldwide.
It warned that “widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease” were driving deaths in Gaza, but stopped short of a formal famine declaration.
UK to recognise Palestinian statehood: <\/b>Elsewhere, Sir Keir Starmer announced the UK will officially recognise Palestine statehood in September unless Israel meets several conditions.
Those include taking “substantive efforts” to end the “appalling situation in Gaza” and to commit to a long-term peace process that delivers a two-state solution, something Benjamin Netanyahu has long rejected.
Reacting to the news, the Israeli leader said Sir Keir’s decision “rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism” and “punishes its victims”.
Aid drops continue into Gaza: <\/b>Meanwhile, for the third day in a row, countries were given access to parachute aid into Gaza as the Israeli military paused action in three areas of the enclave.
Sky correspondent Sally Lockwood<\/a> joined the Jordanian air force on one of their delivery missions, watching from the cargo hold as eight tonnes of aid was dropped. Watch her full report below.
At the weekend, the UK government said recognising Palestinian statehood was a “matter of when, not if”.
So, why now? 
Below, Sky News’s chief political correspondent Jon Craig<\/a> looks at the four factors behind Sir Keir Starmer’s plan towards recognising Palestine.
A group of high-profile Israeli public figures has called for “crippling sanctions” to be imposed on Israel, amid concerns over starvation in Gaza.
The 31 signatories of a letter to the Guardian newspaper include an Academy Award winner, a former Israeli attorney general and a number of recipients of the prestigious Israel prize.
The letter accuses Israel of “starving the people of Gaza to death and contemplating the forced removal of millions of Palestinians from the strip”.
It adds: “The international community must impose crippling sanctions on Israel until it ends this brutal campaign and implements a permanent ceasefire.”
Israel has denied a man-made famine is happening in Gaza and says it is not withholding aid. Its government has regularly accused Hamas of stealing food intended for civilians.
A Palestinian community leader has been killed by a sanctioned settler in a West Bank area which was documented in the Oscar-winning film No Other Land, according to the movie’s directors.
The local leader, Awdah Hathaleen, was killed in front of a community centre in the Israel-occupied West Bank last night, the film’s co-director Basel Adra, who was also Hathaleen’s friend, said.
Adra said on social media that Hathaleen was “slaughtered” as he was shot in the chest.
The suspect in the killing has been identified as Yinon Levi, an Israeli settler who was sanctioned by the UK and EU last year. Local media reports that he was released under house arrest today.
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