By Merve Berker
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer highlighted the critical need for global unity to prevent further escalation of conflicts in the Middle East and beyond.
Starmer, addressing the 79th UN General Assembly on Thursday in New York, stressed the importance of peace in Gaza and Israel, pointing to the ongoing Israeli violence in the region.
“We need to see an immediate cease-fire to provide space for a diplomatic settlement,” he stated, adding: “It shames us all that the suffering in Gaza continues to grow.”
“It offers nothing but more suffering for innocent people on all sides and the prospect of a wider war that no one can control and with consequences that none of us can foresee,” he warned.
He stressed that a lasting peace deal is crucial to preventing a wider regional conflict, especially involving Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Starmer, who took office this July, reaffirmed the need for a two-state solution, ensuring both a safe Israel and a Palestinian state.
“The answer is diplomacy, the release of all the hostages and the unfettered flow of aid to those in need,” he stressed.
“That is the only way to break this devastating cycle of violence and begin the journey towards a political solution for the long term, which delivers the long promised Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel,” he emphasized.
His speech came amid escalating Israeli attacks in Lebanon.
Following deadly attacks last week using wireless devices, this week Israel has pounded Lebanon, killing at least 677 people and injuring over 2,500 others, according to figures released by the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Lebanese group Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed more than 41,500 people, most of them women and children, following a cross-border attack by Hamas last October.
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire, Israel has continued a brutal offensive on Gaza following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October.
More than 41,500 people, most of them women and children, have since been killed and more than 96,000 injured, according to local health authorities.
The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel also faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.
- ‘Devastating toll of wars’ worldwide
Starmer also pointed to the devastating toll of wars, particularly in Sudan, Ukraine, and Yemen, where humanitarian crises are intensifying.
He reiterated the UK’s support for Ukraine, now 2 1/2 years into a Russian-launched war: “We will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes, because the alternative would be to confirm the worst claims about this place, that international law is merely a paper tiger and that aggressors can do what they will.”
“We will never let that happen, because it is our duty to respond to a more dangerous world with strength to keep our people safe.”
“We must also work together to make the world less dangerous, and so we have to face some hard truths,” Starmer said.
He added: “The institutions of peace are struggling, underfunded, under pressure and over politicized.”
“The entire framework of arms control and counter proliferation, painstakingly constructed after decades, has begun to fall away,” he warned.
According to the British leader, Russia’s aggression in Ukraine threatens the foundations of international law, which the UK will firmly uphold.
- Iran’s nuclear expansion, AI, Sudan
Starmer also addressed Iran's nuclear program, calling for stronger global efforts to curb it.
On war in general, he said: “After 20 years of gains in tackling poverty, disease and in health, war is one of the main regions that progress has stalled. That is a catastrophe made by human hands.”
He also urged international cooperation to prevent the spread of military technologies such as artificial intelligence.
He also pointed to the dire conditions in the African country of Sudan, where conflict has fueled one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
He called for more decisive global action to deliver aid and foster peace in the country.
Sudan has been mired by fighting between the army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo.
At least 12,260 people have been killed and more than 33,000 injured in the conflict that started in April 2023, according to UN figures.
A humanitarian crisis continues to worsen in the country as nearly 6.8 million people have fled their homes seeking safety.
Several cease-fire agreements brokered by Saudi Arabia and US mediators have failed to end the violence.
Starmer concluded by stressing the need for reform of international institutions, calling for fairer representation in the UN Security Council and a stronger commitment to tackling climate change and poverty.
He asserted that international collaboration, not isolationism, is the key to addressing the world's most pressing issues.
"Together, we can change direction from the dangerous, destructive path we find ourselves on," he urged, underscoring the critical role of the UN in shaping a more peaceful and cooperative future.