LONDON, July 25, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would hold an "emergency call" Friday with France and Germany on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, urging a ceasefire and steps towards Palestinian statehood.

"I will hold an emergency call with E3 partners tomorrow, where we will discuss what we can do urgently to stop the killing and get people the food they desperately need while pulling together all the steps necessary to build a lasting peace," he said in a statement Thursday.

"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 the situation in Gaza had "reached new depths and continues to worsen", 21 months on from the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023 that triggered Israel's war on the Palestinian territory.

"The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible," Starmer said.

"We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe."

Israel faces growing international pressure to allow a massive increase in humanitarian aid to the more than two million Palestinians in Gaza, where warnings of imminent famine are mounting.

Israel and Hamas have been holding indirect talks in Qatar aimed at reaching a ceasefire, but they have so fall failed to produce concrete results.