SIR KEIR STARMER faced a backlash today for spouting empty words while continuing to enable the genocide in Gaza.

The Prime Minister, who is yet to enforce a full arms embargo on Israel, released a statement calling the suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza “unspeakable and indefensible.”

He announced plans to hold an emergency call with Germany and France to discuss “what we can do urgently to stop the killing.”

Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn, who recently tabled a public inquiry into Britain’s role in Gaza, responded on X: “Empty words cannot hide the truth: your government is complicit in genocide.”

On Wednesday, the government informed Mr Corbyn that the inquiry would be “unnecessary” and that it would be opposed.

The letter from the Foreign Office came just a day after Foreign Secretary David Lammy publicly stated he was “appalled” and “sickened” by Israel’s actions.

When pressed on BBC Radio 4 about his limited response, Mr Lammy deflected criticism by praising his own “good record” — citing the restoration of funding to aid agency UNRWA, a review of Britain’s “bilateral roadmap,” and a partial arms embargo.

The embargo, enforced in September, suspended 30 out of 350 arms exports.

But an analysis of Israeli import data by the Palestinian Youth Movement, Progressive International and Workers for a Free Palestine found that Britain still exported 8,630 “munitions of war” to Israel after it came into force.

The Ministry of Defence admitted last month that is it training what it called a “limited number” of IDF personnel.

A Stop the War spokeswoman said: “Keir Starmer and David Lammy have been defending and enabling the indefensible for over 20 months. 

“They are complicit in the genocide of our age. The blood of thousands of Palestinian children runs all the way to the door of Number 10. 

“These are yet more empty words, entirely lacking in any commitment to anything that might help end the suffering of the people of Gaza.”

Last night, protesters were due to lay down 1,000 cooking pots outside Downing Street to represent the number of people killed by Israeli forces while trying to access aid in Gaza.

The World Food Programme said the crisis has reached “new and astonishing levels of desperation," with a third of the population, approximately 700,000 people, not eating for multiple days in a row.  

Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal, organising the action at Number 10, said: “Those who caused this suffering and death will be reviled, so too will those who supported it or allowed it to happen. 

“In that number will be our Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy. 

“They have been on the wrong side of history because they failed to abide by international law which demands they prevent and punish genocide — instead they gave Israel military, diplomatic and economic support.”

Emergency demonstrations were also organised in Manchester, Leeds, and Edinburgh, with a Stop Starving Gaza march set to take place in Brighton on Saturday.

Today, more than 125 cross-party MPs wrote to the Prime Minister urging him to recognise the state of Palestine.

Their appeal comes amid a growing international push, with French President Emmanuel Macron announcing on Thursday that France will officially recognise Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

A spokeswoman for Momentum said: “Immediate recognition of a Palestinian State is being widely demanded by Labour MPs, party members and voters alike.

“It is the bare minimum we should expect from Keir Starmer. 

“His government must also take concrete steps against Israel by banning all arms sales and ceasing all military co-operation immediately.”

The demands were backed by the TUC, which also called for the suspension the UK-Israel trade deal, warning that it is “plain wrong” that goods from Israel are imported to Britain with reduced tariffs. 

The union body said in a statement: “Words must be matched with action. 

“That's why we are calling for the UK and its international partners to use every diplomatic, political and economic tool available to help deliver an immediate and permanent ceasefire, end the illegal occupation and start a meaningful political peace process that respects the right to self-determination.

“This must include formal recognition of the state of Palestine. Not in a year’s time or two years’ time — but now.”

On Saturday, hundreds of protesters from across 60 organisations are set to unfurl a 500-metre red line in Aberystwyth.

Ahead of the action, Hannah Mann from Aberystwyth Palestine Solidarity Campaign said: “Israel has crossed every red line imaginable — bombing civilians, razing hospitals, starving children. Yet our leaders remain silent. If our governments won’t draw the line, we will become it.”

“The Red Line symbolises the breaking point — not only for international law, but for our collective conscience.”