UK at the Security Council: two-state solution “under serious threat”, with calls on Israel over Gaza aid and E1 and on Hamas to disarm

At the UN Security Council’s open debate on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory on 15 October, the United Kingdom said that the two-state solution “remains the only route” to lasting peace but that the goal is “under serious threat”. The statement was delivered by Ambassador Sarah MacIntosh, the UK Permanent Representative to the UN, and published by the UK government.

What the UK said on Gaza

MacIntosh said the UK continues to welcome US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan and supports full implementation of Security Council resolution 2803, but that progress “is not yet sufficient”. She said that since the ceasefire an average of four people have been killed every day, including more than 300 children. These are figures given in the UK statement; the text does not name its source.

She described civilians facing a fourth winter in tents and makeshift shelters and said more than 8,000 emergency shelter kits stored outside Gaza are still denied entry. The UK called on the Government of Israel to remove restrictions on critical aid, including on items designated as dual-use. In line with resolution 2803, she said, Hamas must decommission its weapons, dismantle its infrastructure and hand over governance and security control.

West Bank and the Palestinian Authority

On the political track, the UK said it supports the Palestinian Authority’s reform agenda and repeated that it “deeply regrets” the decision to postpone Palestinian legislative and presidential elections to September 2027, asking it to reconsider. Geopolitiki reported the earlier joint position in Australia, Canada, France and UK “deeply regret” Palestinian decision to postpone elections to September 2027.

On the West Bank, MacIntosh said the UN recorded 51 settler attacks in a single week in September and urged Israeli authorities to let Palestinian communities harvest olives safely. She said the UK remains “appalled by the E1 development” and called on Israel to halt the plans, retract the tender and stop all settlement expansion. The statement does not include an Israeli response; Israel’s own remarks at the meeting are not covered here.

UN figures from the same meeting

UN News, reporting on the debate, listed figures from UN bodies. It said more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the October 2025 ceasefire, and that nearly all of Gaza’s 2.1 million people need shelter assistance, with the International Organization for Migration saying current supplies cover about 17 per cent of needs. It also cited OCHA as saying that aid access is limited by underfunding and Israeli restrictions, including limited access to more than 64 per cent of Gaza’s land. In the West Bank, it said more than 1,600 settler attacks had been recorded this year as of mid-September and more than 4,300 Palestinians displaced.

The humanitarian picture was also covered in OCHA: Gaza braces for winter as attacks continue and aid access stays restricted. The Council also adopted a presidential statement on Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia on the same day, which the UK statement mentioned at its opening.