Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Tuesday the UK will formally recognise the State of Palestine in September unless Israel takes various "substantive steps", including agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza.

The potentially landmark move, part of Starmer's plan for a "lasting peace", came after the British leader recalled his cabinet from recess for urgent talks on the worsening situation in the besieged territory.

Starmer's move, paired with Paris also saying it will recognise a Palestinian state in September, would make the two European allies the first G7 nations to do so.

The Netherlands has declared Israel's finance and national security ministers persona non grata for inciting violence and urging ethnic cleansing in Gaza.

In June, the Netherlands backed a failed Swedish proposal to impose EU sanctions on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

"They repeatedly incited settler violence against Palestinians, promoted illegal settlement expansion, and called for ethnic cleansing in Gaza," Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp told parliament in a letter released late Monday.

By Andrew MacAskill and Sarah Young

LONDON (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will hold an emergency cabinet on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Gaza and a proposed peace plan as he comes under mounting pressure from his own party to recognise a Palestinian state.

Starmer has taken the rare step of recalling his cabinet during the summer holidays to discuss how to deliver more humanitarian aid to Gaza.

By Michelle Nichols and Olivia Le Poidevin

UNITED NATIONS/GENEVA (Reuters) -Famine is "playing out" in the Gaza Strip, a global hunger monitor said in an alert issued on Tuesday as international criticism of Israel intensifies over rapidly worsening conditions in the Palestinian enclave.

"The worst-case scenario of Famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip," said the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) alert. "Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths."

Dubai International Airport welcomed a record 46 million passengers in the first half of this year, authorities said on Tuesday, despite disruptions due to the Iran-Israel war

The facility marked its busiest first half on record with a 2.3 percent year-on-year growth, Dubai Airports said in a statement, "despite temporary regional airspace disruptions in May and June".

During the 12-day Iran-Israel war, airlines cancelled flights to many Middle East destinations as some governments closed their airspace.

By Deniz Uyar, Monica Naime and Pola Grzanka

July 29 (Reuters) - The fighters in military-style uniforms pointed their rifles at the three unarmed men and ordered them out onto a sunny balcony, before barking at them to pause. "One minute. You want to film them?" one of the attackers asked his comrade.

The unfolding horror, which was already being filmed by one gunman on his cellphone, was delayed for a few moments to allow a second fighter to start capturing the events.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -The Dutch government will summon Israel's ambassador to the Netherlands to denounce the "unbearable and indefensable" situation in Gaza and has imposed travel bans on two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers, it said in a letter published late on Monday.

Israeli government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich will no longer be allowed to enter the Netherlands, which accuses them of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians and calling for an "ethnic cleansing" of the Gaza strip.

CAIRO/ATHENS (Reuters) -Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Monday they had rescued 10 seafarers from the Greek-operated cargo ship Eternity C which they attacked and sank in the Red Sea earlier this month.

The Liberia-flagged Eternity C was the second ship to sink off Yemen this month after repeated attacks by Houthi militants with sea drones and rocket-propelled grenades. Another Greek-operated vessel, the Magic Seas, had gone down days earlier.

By Lili Bayer

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union's executive body recommended on Monday curbing Israeli access to its flagship research funding programme after calls from EU countries to increase pressure on Israel to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Multiple EU countries said last week that Israel was not living up to its commitments under an agreement with the European Union on increasing aid supplies to Gaza and asked the European Commission to put concrete options on the table.

On a sweltering Monday morning at Cairo's main railway station, hundreds of Sudanese families stood waiting, with bags piled at their feet and children in tow, to board a train bound for a homeland shattered by two years of war.

The war is not yet over, but with the army having regained control of key areas and life in Egypt often hard, many refugees have decided now is the time to head home.

"It's an indescribable feeling," said Khadija Mohamed Ali, 45, seated inside one of the train's ageing carriages, her five daughters lined beside her.