Vance says the US plans to recognise Palestinian state

Vance said this before a meeting with United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London, where the two leaders said the agenda of the talks includes the global economy, the war between Israel and Hamas, as well as the full invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

Hamas is declared a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union.

Responding to journalists' questions before the talks, Vance also spoke of the United Kingdom's decision to recognise the Palestinian state in September if Israel does not accept a ceasefire in Gaza.

He said he does not know what such recognition of the Palestinian state would mean, “taking into account the lack of a functional government there”.

Asked whether Trump had been announced in advance of Israel's intention to invade Gaza City, Vance said he would not enter such discussions.

“If it were easy to ensure peace in that region of the world, it would already have happened”, he said.

The US and Britain, which have historically close ties known as “special relations”, have disagreements about how to end the war in Gaza.

Vance said that both sides want to solve the “problem” of the Gaza crisis, but “may have some disagreement about how exactly to achieve that goal, and we'll talk about it today”.

There are many common goals here. I think there are some differences about how exactly to achieve these common goals, but this is a difficult situation”, he said.

Canada France and Britain said last month they would recognise the Palestinian state.

Currently, the Palestinian state is known by more than 140 of the 193 United Nations member states.

Several European Union countries including Spain and Ireland are among them.

Israel began the war in Gaza in response to the attack by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in 1,200 people being killed and kidnapped more than 240.

According to Palestinian health authorities, over 611,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since then.

Most of Gaza has now become rubble.

Over 100 international aid organisations and human rights groups have warned of massive hunger in the Gaza Strip, pressuring governments in the world to act. / REL