(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer did not discuss London’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel takes a number of steps to improve life for Palestinians.
Starmer said on Tuesday that Britain was prepared to recognise a Palestinian state in September at the United Nations General Assembly in response to growing public anger over the images of starving children in Gaza.
“We never did discuss it,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One while traveling back to the U.S. after meeting Starmer in Scotland.
Trump said recognizing a Palestinian state would reward Palestinian militant group Hamas.
“You’re rewarding Hamas if you do that. I don’t think they should be rewarded,” he said.
Trump said the U.S. had sent money for food aid for Palestinians in Gaza, and that he wanted to make sure it’s properly spent.
“I want to make sure the money is spent wisely and is spent judiciously, and that food is distributed in a proper manner,” he said.
(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto. Editing by Bhargav Acharya and Mark Potter)
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