Closing summary
We’re wrapping up this live coverage now after the day’s events at the UN. You can read our full report here, and below’s a recap of the key news lines. Thanks for reading.
French president Emmanuel Macron officially recognised a Palestinian state at the United Nations on Monday, spurring a wave of western moves to do the same despite fierce resistance from Israel and the US.
Macron told a two-state solution conference he convened with Saudi Arabia that the war in Gaza should end and “the time has come to do justice for the Palestinian people”. He called for Hamas-held hostages to be freed and for an end to “the bombings of Gaza, the massacres and the displacement”.
Macron set out a plan for a UN-mandated international stabilisation force in postwar Gaza. “The time for peace has come, as we are just moments away from no longer being able to seize it,” he told the general assembly.
The Palestinian Authority hailed France’s “historic and courageous” decision and its delegation gave him a standing ovation.
Australia, Britain, Canada and Portugal also recognised a Palestinian state, raising pressure on Israel as it intensifies its war in Gaza. Monaco, Belgium, Andorra, Malta and Luxembourg then all recognised, bringing the total number of recognitions to three-quarters of UN membership.
UN secretary general António Guterres said statehood was a “right, not a reward” for Palestinians. “Nothing can justify the horrific 7 October terror attacks by Hamas or the taking of hostages. And nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
Israel and the US – its chief ally – boycotted the summit, which ended late on Monday.
Arab and Muslim leaders are set to meet President Donald Trump in New York to discuss their separate plan for a stabilisation force in Gaza.
Germany, Italy and Japan are among major US allies that declined to recognise a Palestinian state. Spain, Ireland and Norway gave recognition in May, with Sweden in 2014.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to allow a Palestinian state, saying “it will not happen”. Israeli UN ambassador Danny Danon said Israel “will take action” over the recognition announcements. “They are not promoting peace, they are supporting terrorism.”
Donald Trump believed that recognising Palestinian statehood “is a reward to Hamas”, the White House said.
The UK foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, urged Israel not to respond to the new recognitions by annexing parts of the West Bank, saying: “Settler expansion threatens the very viability of a Palestinian state.”
Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas called on Hamas to surrender its weapons to his Palestinian Authority. Addressing the summit virtually after the US refused to allow him to attend, Abbas said: “We also condemn the killing and detention of civilians, including Hamas actions on October 7 2023.”
The wave of recognition of a Palestinian state is historic but unlikely to immediately change the situation on the ground in Gaza, reports Agence France-Presse, which quoted the International Crisis Group’s Israel-Palestine project director, Max Rodenbeck, as saying: “Unless backed up by concrete measures, recognising Palestine as a state risks becoming a distraction from the reality, which is an accelerating erasure of Palestinian life in their homeland.”
With AFP and agencies
Updated
Just to recap, the US and Israel boycotted today’s two-state conference at the UN. Israeli UN ambassador Danny Danon said Israel would discuss how to respond to the announcements of recognition after prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to Israel next week.
“Those issues were supposed to be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians in the future,” Danon told reporters ahead of the conference.
Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Donald Trump on 29 September in Washington before returning to Israel, as Reuters reports.
Netanyahu has rejected repeated calls to end Israel’s military offensive until Hamas is destroyed and has said a Palestinian state “will not happen”, calling recognition of statehood a “prize” for Hamas.
The US has told other countries that Palestinian recognition will create more problems, secretary of state Marco Rubio said this month.
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese is preparing to meet the French president on the sidelines of the UN general assembly as he defends Australia’s recognition on Sunday of Palestinian statehood.
Ahead of his third official meeting with Emmanuel Macron, Albanese addressed the leaders’ summit on a two-state solution and compared the plight of Palestinians to that of the Jews before the creation of Israel, the Australian Associated Press reports.
“In recognising Palestine, Australia recognises the legitimate and long-held aspirations of the Palestinian people,” Albanese said. “It means real hope for a place they can call home.
This is the same hope that sustained generations of Jewish people.
In his speech to the conference – which has now wrapped up – Albanese also urged the Israeli government to “accept its share of responsibility” for the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.
Updated
After France’s recognition of Palestinian statehood on Monday, Andorra, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta and Monaco also announced or confirmed their recognition of a Palestinian state.
It came a day after the UK, Canada, Australia and Portugal also recognised statehood.
Germany, Italy and Japan took part in the UN conference but did not recognise such a state, the AP reports.
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez has called for a state of Palestine to be admitted to the UN.
“This conference marks a milestone but it’s not the end of the road,” he said at the UN general assembly. “It’s only the beginning.
“The state of Palestine must be a full member of the United Nations,” said Sanchez, an outspoken critic of Israel’s war in Gaza.
“The process for the state of Palestine to join this organisation must be completed as soon as possible, on an equal footing with other states,” he said, quoted by the Associated Press.
Second, we must take immediate measures to stop the barbarism and make peace possible.
Spain – alongside Ireland and Norway – already recognised a Palestinian state in May.
Updated
Recognising Palestine is “protecting the pathway to peace”, Cooper adds.
Updated
She echoes others saying Hamas can have no future in the governance of Palestine.
In a carefully worded statement, Cooper condemns violence on both sides, citing “continued bloodshed, manmade famine, terrorism and hostage-taking, settlement expansion and settler violence”.
But more clearly, she says “settler expansion threatens the very viability of a Palestinian state”.
“The two state solution risks disappearing beneath the rubble – that is what extremists on both sides want,” Cooper says.
UK foreign secretary says Palestinian statehood is 'inalienable right'
The UK’s foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, says “statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people” and that “two states is the only path to security and lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians alike”.
Updated
Luxembourg becomes latest nation to recognise Palestine
Luxembourg’s prime minister Luc Frieden says his country is officially recognising a Palestinian state.
It is the beginning of a renewed commitment to hope, a commitment to diplomacy, to dialogue, to coexistence, and a two-state solution. To the idea – fragile, but still possible - that peace can prevail.
“There are moments in history when the cause of peace demands both moral clarity and political courage,” Frieden says. Today “is such a moment in history”, he says.
He says “that the two-state solution remains the only viable way forward for lasting peace”.
Frieden reiterates, like others, that it is “not a decision against Israel or its people” and also not a move to “reward violence”.
Malta recognises Palestinian statehood
Malta’s prime minister Robert Abela says his country is also recognising Palestinian statehood.
“Let me begin by stating clearly and unequivocally that the Republic of Malta is proud to confirm our official recognition of Palestinian statehood,” he says.
He says, as have many other leaders, that Malta also supports Israel’s right to exist alongside a democratic Palestinian state.
He says a two-state solution would be the “worst possible outcome” for Hamas and echoed other leaders who have said Hamas should have no role in a future Palestinian government.
If Palestinians can see a peaceful and realistic road to nationhood and self determination, it fatally undermines deciding cries of Hamas.
Belgium recognises state of Palestine
Belgium’s prime minister Bart De Wever announces that his country is joining other nations in recognising a Palestinian state to give a “strong political and diplomatic signal to the world”.
He adds that the legal recognition of a Palestinian state can only proceed “once all hostages have been released and all terrorist organisations such as Hamas have been removed from the governance of Palestine”.
The effective conduct of diplomatic relations with the new state of Palestine, including the opening of Belgian embassy and the conclusion of international agreements, will be carried out once the objectives of the New York Declaration have been achieved.
Carney says recognising Palestine “empowers those who seek peaceful coexistence and the end of Hamas”.
“It doesn’t legitimise terrorism,” he says, echoing other leaders in a rebuke to Israeli and American accusations.
Israel 'working to prevent a Palestinian state from ever being established', says Carney
Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney says “the current Israeli government is working methodically to prevent the prospect of a Palestinian state from ever being established”.
He speaks of illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank, and the aggression in Gaza, which has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of civilians, the displacement of millions and the devastating famine.
Sanchez calls this conference a “monumental step forward” but adds that it only marks the beginning of the road.
He calls for the state of Palestine to be admitted as a fully fledged member of the UN.
He also calls for an immediate peace and end to the genocide in Gaza.
Updated
In brief, strongly worded remarks, the prime minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, notes that while recognising Palestine is urgent, “it is all the more urgent that there exists a Palestinian people in the state that we are claiming to recognise”.
“But regrettably,” he goes on, “the Palestinian people are being annihilated.”
He supports a two-state solution, “but let us be lucidly clear, there is no solution possible when the population of one of those two states is the victim of a genocide”.
Spain recognised Palestine back in May 2024, along with Norway and Ireland.
Monaco recognises state of Palestine
Monaco has become the latest country to recognize a Palestinian state, with Prince Albert II making the announcement at the UN general assembly summit earlier.
He said that since the beginning, his country has defended Israel’s right “to live within safe and recognised borders and to enjoy security therein”, as well as “the right of the Palestinian people to have a sovereign, viable and democratic state”.
“Today, we wish to reaffirm our unwavering support to Israel’s existence, and we also wish to recognize Palestine as a state under international law,” he said to applause.
Ramaphosa calls firstly for global recognition of Palestine and its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Secondly, for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the genocide, and the release of hostages by Hamas and prisoners by Israel.
Thirdly, full respect for international law, including for UN resolutions and opinions, and the decisions of the international court of justice.
Fourthly, the removal of obstacles to the two-state solution, including a halt to illegal settlements and a removal of the separation wall.
Lastly, the restoration of humanitarian aid and the reconstruction of Gaza.
Ramaphosa condemns the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and says Israel “has unleashed disproportionate punishment against the people of Palestine”.
The only solution is a two-state solution, he says.
Its viability depends on “full and universal respect for international law”, he says.
He speaks of how only Israel was created in 1947, “casting and ushering the Palestinians into a decades-long wilderness of statelessness, characterised by decades of occupation and now genocide”.
Updated
He congratulates Macron and others for their “bold” and “long overdue” decision to recognise the sovereign state of Palestine.
(South Africa recognised Palestine in 1995, after its first post-apartheid democratic elections).
Updated
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa calls this “crucial” conference one of great significance, “not only for the people of Palestine, not only for the people of Israel, but for all people who cherish the ideals of freedom and self-determination”.
Analysis: Allies’ recognition of Palestine angers Netanyahu but his options for response are limited
Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to denounce the recognition of a Palestinian state by many of Israel’s historic allies, but the prime minister may be struggling to decide how to turn rhetoric into a concrete response.
His options are perhaps more constrained than he would have his supporters believe. He has variously threatened annexation of occupied Palestinian land and bilateral action against countries that joined the tide of recognition.
But laying formal claim to part or all of the West Bank would jeopardise the Abraham accords, the historic agreement that normalised ties with regional powers including the United Arab Emirates.
That deal was perhaps the most high-profile foreign policy achievement of Donald Trump’s first presidency, cited in nominations for the Nobel peace prize he openly covets, and one of Netanyahu’s own landmark achievements.
The UAE, one of its most important partners, has already said annexation is a “red line”, and the deal’s collapse would carry a high risk of alienating Netanyahu’s single most important supporter.
Israel chose a bilateral response to Ireland, Norway and Spain when they recognised a Palestinian state last year, including withdrawing ambassadors.
Doing the same thing now, when so many key allies have followed suit, would be far more complicated – and could harm Israel far more than its targets, former Israeli diplomats said.
It would accelerate Israel’s trajectory towards the isolated “super-Sparta” status that Netanyahu celebrated last week and then backed away from after public outrage and economic warnings.
Alon Liel, a former diplomat who served as Israel’s consul general to South Africa, said:
I think its such a difficult dilemma that Netanyahu decided to postpone. There is no way Israel will not respond, and there is no way Israel will respond in a clever way. The cabinet is on the point of discussing which mistakes to make.
Read the rest of Emma’s analysis here:
Abbas also expresses readiness to work with US president Donald Trump, Saudi Arabia, and other partners to implement any peace plan adopted during the UN conference.
Abbas also commends the 149 nations which have already recognised a Palestinian state, and calls on those which have not done so to follow suit.
We commend the positions of those countries that recognised the state of Palestine, we call on those who have not yet done so to follow suit. We call for your support so that Palestine becomes a fully-fledged member of the United Nations.
Within three months of the end of the war, Abbas says, an interim constitution will be drafted to ensure the correct transfer of power from the authority to the state takes place.
Elections will then be held under international observance, he adds, describing his aspirations for a state governed by the rule of law.
Abbas also called for a permanent ceasefire and ensuring access to humanitarian aid through the UN and Unrwa.
He also calls for the start “without delay” of the reconstruction of Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Palestinian president calls on Hamas to 'surrender their weapons'
Speaking via video link, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas says Hamas must have “no role” in governing Gaza in the future and calls on Hamas to hand over its weapons.
Hamas and other factions must surrender their weapons to the Palestinian Authority.
What we want is one unified state without weapons, a state with one law and one legitimate security forces.
Updated
“The horrors of Gaza make equally clear that we cannot allow such devastation to happen again,” Baerbock says.
She says she has spoken with both Palestinian people, whose family members are “buried in the ruins of Gaza,” and families of the hostages.
“As one Israeli mother told me, it does not bring my child back if a Palestinian mother loses her child in Gaza,” she recalls.
UN general assembly president Annalena Baerbock condemns Israeli settlement expansions and demolitions in the occupied West Bank, actions which are “eroding any prospects for a political solution”.
'Statehood for Palestinians is a right, not a reward,' says UN chief
Guterres says statehood for Palestinians “is a right, not a reward” and without it, there will be “no peace” in the region.
We must recommit ourselves to the two-state solution before it is too late. The solution in which two independent, contiguous, democratic, viable and sovereign states are mutually recognised and fully integrated into the international community.
He adds: “Denying statehood would be a gift to extremists everywhere.”
Updated
'Morally, legally and politically intolerable': Guterres calls on Israel to end 'creeping threat of annexation'
The UN secretary-general says “nothing can justify the horrific seven October terror attacks by Hamas or the taking of hostages”.
“And nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” he adds.
“Nothing can also excuse developments in the West Bank that pose an existential threat to a two-state solution,” he says. “The relentless expansion of settlements, the creeping threat of annexation, the intensification of settle violence – all of it must stop.”
He calls the situation “morally, legally and politically intolerable”.
Updated
António Guterres acknowledges the Palestinian delegation and expresses his disappointment “that they were denied the opportunity to be fully represented” at this summit.
Updated
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud addresses the UN on behalf of the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Thanking Macron for recognising a Palestinian state, he reiterates that a two-state solution is the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace in the region.
Macron also called for a transitional administration in Gaza involving the Palestinian Authority, that will be tasked with overseeing the dismantling of Hamas.
He says France is ready to contribute to a “stabilisation mission” in Gaza, raising the prospect of an international security presence in the territory.
As we previewed earlier, he also said France will only open an embassy to a Palestinian state when all the hostages being held by Hamas are released and a ceasefire has been agreed to.
Macron reframes Palestinian recognition as 'a defeat for Hamas'
Earlier in his speech, Macron said the recognition of a Palestinian state is the “only solution that will allow for Israel to live in peace”, calling the move a “defeat for Hamas” (clapping back to Israeli and the US claims that recognising Palestine “rewards” Hamas).
The recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people “takes nothing away from the rights of the people of Israel, who France supported from day one”, Macron said.
France has never wavered, standing by side, by Israel’s side, even when its security was at stake, including when there were Iranian air strikes. This recognition of the state of Palestine is a defeat for Hamas.
Updated
The second priority is to rebuild Gaza, Macron says, along with the dismemberment and dismantlement of Hamas.
Updated
Once a ceasefire is agreed, a massive collective effort to provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
It is Israel’s “absolute obligation” to facilitate humanitarian access to its population.
He calls on Israel to do nothing more to thwart negotiations with Hamas.
This recognition paves the way for peace negotiations, Macron says.
The top priority, he says, is the release of the remaining 48 hostages and an end to the military operations throughout Gaza.
'The time for peace has come': Macron announces France's recognition of Palestine
Emmanuel Macron announces that France has formally recognized the Palestinian state.
“We must do everything within our power to preserve the very possibility of a two-state solution, Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security,” he says.
The time has come.
This is why, true to the historic commitment of my country to the Middle East, to peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
This is why I declare that today, France recognises the state of Palestine.
Updated
'Nothing justifies the ongoing war in Gaza,' says Macron
Macron says that he wants the fulfilment of the promise of the UN charter of “two states living side by side in peace and security”.
But Israel is expanding its military operation in Gaza, he says, with hundreds of thousands of people displaced, injured, famished, traumatised, their lives destroyed, although Hamas has been significantly weakened”.
“Nothing justifies the ongoing war in Gaza,” he says. “Nothing.”
“On the contrary, everything compels us to definitively end it since we didn’t do it earlier,” he says. “We must do it to save lives.”
Macron condemns antisemitism and also pays tribute to those killed in the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023. “We will never, ever forget them,” he says.
Macron says that while Israel was created in 1947, the promise of the creation of an Arab state in mandatory Palestine remains unfulfilled.
'We can no longer wait' to recognise Palestine, says Macron
“Some might say it’s too late, some might say it’s too early, but one thing is certain: we can no longer wait,” says Macron.
Updated
France poised to recognise Palestine as key UN summit begins
The UN conference, co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia, has just started, with France set to formally recognise a Palestinian state.
French president Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman are due to speak first, followed by UN secretary general António Guterres and then other world leaders.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas will also speak, but only via video link after the Trump administration declined to issue visas for Abbas and his delegation to attend the gathering in New York.
Updated
Israeli UN ambassador refuses to rule out West Bank annexation
Asked if he could rule out the Israeli annexation of the West Bank as a response to the wave of recognition of Palestine, Danny Danon replied:
Firstly, I don’t like the word ‘annexation’; I call it ‘applying sovereignty’. When something belongs to you, you don’t annex.
He added that the government would have to discuss it.
Updated
Arab and Muslim leaders to meet Trump to discuss peace plan for Gaza
Patrick Wintour and Andrew Roth in New York
As I reported earlier, Arab and Muslim leaders are to meet Donald Trump in New York tomorrow to discuss their plan for a UN-mandated international stabilisation force in Gaza as France plans to join the UK, Canada and Australia in recognising Palestine as a state.
The recognition of Palestine by France and five other states is due to play out in dramatic fashion later today on the floor of the UN general assembly as France and Saudi Arabia co-chair a summit to discuss the future of a two-state solution, a road map to peace that Benjamin Netanyahu has declared a dead-end.
Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, derided the session as an “embarrassing political circus” and the US has warned its allies that the recognition of Palestine could lead to a “reciprocal” Israeli reaction, setting the scene for a major diplomatic crisis as world leaders meet in New York for the 80th anniversary of the UN.
The Trump meeting, scheduled after his address to the UN’s general assembly, is the most direct engagement between the White House and Arab states on post-ceasefire plans for Gaza since he was elected president for a second time.
Trump is expected to deliver an aggressive speech decrying “globalist institutions” on Tuesday which he will claim have “have significantly decayed the world order”, a White House spokesperson said in a briefing.
The US president is also expected to meet leaders from Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Nothing Trump has done so far suggests that he shares the view held by the Gulf states that the PA is a viable alternative to Hamas, or should be considered a partner for peace. He has imposed sanctions on PA officials and banned Mahmoud Abbas, its 89-year-old leader, from coming to New York to speak to the UN.
Arab leaders see the meeting as a chance to pin down Trump on whether he supports the Arab League’s proposals for Gaza’s future, or even a variation put to him by a working group led by Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister, and Jared Kushner, who is the president’s son-in-law. Neither of the reconstruction plans proposes the mass expulsion of Palestinians, a proposal that Trump at times has appeared to support. The Blair plan does not clearly endorse the PA as the long-term administrators for Gaza.
The Arab states are likely to insist they will not join any international force unless the reformed PA is given a future role. They also want a roadmap to a two-state future that excludes further Israeli settlements or annexation of the West Bank.
Danon doubled down that Israel will react to the wave of nations formally recognizing a Palestinian state.
Asked what the reaction will be, he deferred to Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, and said it would be discussed after the Jewish new year (this year Rosh Hashanah falls on Monday and Tuesday) and after Netanyahu returns from Washington later this week.
“In the past we applied sovereignty in the Golan Heights, over East Jerusalem, but that’s a discussion for the government,” he says.
Updated
Asked about the letter Hamas has reportedly drafted to Donald Trump pledging to immediately return half of the hostages in their custody in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire, Danon said he’s seen the report but is unsure of its veracity.
He said only that Hamas knows Israel is serious and “will not stop until we get all the hostages back home”. “This is a show,” he said referring to the UN meeting, “what we’re doing on the ground is for real.”
Fox News has the story on the letter, which it says is expected to be delivered to Trump this week.
Updated
US and Israel 'will not take part in this charade', Israel's UN ambassador says ahead of summit
Danon said a two-state solution was taken “off the table” after the 7 October attack, adding that both the US and Israel “will not take part in this charade”, referring to the imminent meeting in which France and others will recognize Palestine.
Danon also expressed disappointment towards French president Emmanuel Macron.
“On October 8, you stood with Israel, you spoke about the hostages. Today you’re moving on, you’re leaving the hostages behind,” he said referring to the countries with plans to recognize Palestinian statehood.
“Many leaders today will speak about the future when Hamas will not be part of Gaza, but I will ask them: who is going to do that?” Danon said. “The responsibility is on our shoulders.”
Updated
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, has called the UN summit on a two-state solution “theatre” and “detached from reality”.
He’s told reporters outside the meeting in New York that moves to recognize Palestine are “hollow gestures” that reward Hamas.
Updated
As we’ve been reporting, Emmanuel Macron has indicated that France will join several other western governments that have recognized Palestine, as he prepares to host a meeting with Saudi Arabia on the moribund idea of a two-state solution.
“They want a nation, they want a state, and we should not push them towards Hamas,” Macron said on Sunday, adding that outside recognition of Palestinian aspirations would help isolate the armed group.
AFP reports that Macron also said he would make the release of hostages taken by Hamas during its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel a precondition for opening a French embassy to the Palestinian state.
Israel’s foreign ministry said that recognition does not “promote peace, but on the contrary further destabilizes the region and undermines the chances of achieving a peaceful solution”.
Israel said it would skip an emergency UN security council meeting on Gaza on Tuesday because of the Jewish New Year, calling the timing “regrettable”.
More than 140 world leaders are descending on New York this week for the annual United Nations general assembly, which will be dominated by the Palestinian crisis.
Trump believes Palestinian recognition rewards Hamas, says White House
After several American allies joined the global chorus formally recognizing a Palestinian state, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reaffirmed that Donald Trump disagrees with this decision at this afternoon’s press briefing.
She said: “The president has been very clear - the president disagrees with this decision.”
He feels this does not do anything to free the hostages, which is the primary goal in Gaza, does nothing to end this conflict and bring this war to a close - and frankly, he believes it’s a reward to Hamas. He believes these decisions are just more talk and not enough action from some of our friends and allies. And I think you’ll hear him talk about that tomorrow at the UN.
Updated
A group of Palestinian scholars who have been awaiting evacuation from Gaza to take up their places at universities across the UK finally arrived on Monday after “a surreal journey from devastation to opportunity”.
The 34 students, who all have fully funded scholarships, arrived in London and Manchester onboard three flights from Queen Alia international airport in Jordan. A number took onward flights to Northern Ireland and Scotland where they will purse their studies.
Their arrival followed months of campaigning by politicians, academics and others on behalf of more than 100 Palestinian students holding offers from UK universities this year. Supporters are hoping others will follow and a permanent pathway will be established to ensure more Palestinian scholars benefit.
My colleague Sally Weale has the story:
Updated
Italy hosted one of Europe’s largest nationwide protests against Israel’s offensive in Gaza on Monday as tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets.
The protests came as France and several other countries prepared to recognise Palestinian statehood at the UN general assembly on Monday after the UK, Australia, Portugal and Canada did so on Sunday.
Grassroots unions across Italy called for a 24-hour general strike in solidarity with the people of Gaza on Monday, citing reasons that included the “inertia of the Italian and EU governments” to address the humanitarian crisis in the territory.
Updated
Donald Trump is set to hold a series of high-stakes meetings at the United Nations this week, beginning with bilateral talks with UN secretary-general António Guterres and leaders from Ukraine, Argentina, and the European Union, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt has said.
In a separate multilateral summit, Trump will convene with leaders of key Muslim countries, amid heavy focus at the forum on Israel’s war in Gaza, from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the UAE, and Jordan, Leavitt said.
Updated
More than three-quarters of the 193-member United Nations now recognize Palestine. Those who don’t include the United States, Germany, Italy and, of course, Israel.
Donald Trump to address UN general assembly on Tuesday
US president Donald Trump will speak at the UN general assembly tomorrow. The US, Israel’s strongest ally, remains vehemently opposed to the recognition of Palestinian statehood.
After four western countries including the UK formally recognized Palestine on Sunday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed: “There will be no Palestinian state”. He has said he will make his response known after he returns from the US at the end of this week.
Updated
World leaders gather in New York for UN summit on two-state solution as France prepares to recognize Palestine
As Israel’s assault on Gaza rages on, France and Saudi Arabia are chairing a high-profile meeting at the United Nations later on Monday aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution, with more nations expected to recognize a Palestinian state in defiance of Israel and the United States.
The meeting in New York is set to begin at 3pm ET (7pm GMT), with several world leaders expected to speak
France – which has spearheaded western efforts to revive a two-state solution – is set to announce formal recognition of Palestine, along with Belgium, Luxembourg, Andorra, San Marino and Malta. They will join the UK, Canada, Australia and Portugal who did so on Sunday.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is expected to address the meeting by video after he and dozens of other senior Palestinian officials were denied US visas to attend the conference.
Updated
Israeli military forces are likely to mount new attacks into parts of Gaza now crowded with hundreds of thousands of displaced people once they have concluded their current offensive into Gaza City, a former Israeli national security advisor and general has said.
Yaakov Amidror, who served as national security adviser to Benjamin Netanyahu from 2011 to 2013 after decades in the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), said that the “hard core” of Hamas was in Gaza City but that “another chapter” could follow after the offensive there: an attack into the “central camps” area further south.
“The campaign in Gaza City will be three months of intensive [fighting] then six months to clear it [of Hamas fighters] so there is no threat from there and then we decide about the central camps,” Amidror said.
The “central camps” refers to the heavily built-up Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza. Both are packed with displaced Palestinians from elsewhere in Gaza, and have been repeatedly subjected to airstrikes.
Aid officials working in Gaza told the Guardian that they had been “warned off” investing substantial resources in new facilities in the central camps area during recent discussions with Israeli military officials.
“Our clear understanding from those conversations was that the IDF would be going in there, though it wasn’t clear if that meant now or after they’re done in Gaza City,” one said.
Thousands of protesters and strikers calling for solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza took to the streets in Italy on Monday, with some storming Milan’s central train station and clashing violently with police.
Italy’s grassroots unions, which represent hundreds of thousands of people ranging from schoolteachers to metalworkers, called for a 24-hour general strike in both public and private sectors, including public transportation, trains, schools and ports.
The strike caused disruptions across the country, with long delays for national trains and limited public transport in major cities, including Rome, AP reported.
In Milan, tensions escalated when dozens of protesters dressed in black and armed with batons tried to smash the main entrance of the city’s central train station, throwing smoke bombs, bottles and stones at police, who responded with pepper spray. In Bologna, police used water cannons to disperse a crowd of demonstrators who blocked a highway.
The transit of goods was slowed or partially blocked by workers’ sit-ins and rallies in Italy’s main ports of Genoa and Livorno. More than 20,000 people gathered in front of Rome’s central station to protest the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Hamas-led authorities in Gaza have executed three men accused of collaborating with Israel, a Palestinian official said, as the group seeks to crush rising challenges from Palestinian militias it says are working against it with Israeli support.
Two years into the Gaza war and with Hamas under relentless Israeli military pressure, small bands of armed Palestinians opposed to the group have surfaced in several parts of Gaza where they have been operating against it, according to residents and sources close to Hamas and to the groups.
In a video circulated on social media showing the executions, a masked man is seen issuing a warning to “all collaborators” before the three men, kneeling and blindfolded, are kicked onto their fronts and shot in front of a crowd, Reuters reported.
Reuters confirmed the location as Gaza City by the buildings, a gas station, road layout, and signs seen in the video which matched file and satellite imagery of the area.
The Palestinian security official from the Hamas-run Gaza government said the executions were carried out on Sunday by the “Joint Operations Room of the Palestinian resistance”.
The videos showed “revolutionary rulings” being implemented against people for security collaboration with Israel, it said.
Israel’s military said on Monday it will demolish the homes of two Palestinian gunmen who shot and killed six people at a bus stop in Jerusalem earlier this month in one of the deadliest attacks in the city in the past few years.
The shooting took place against the backdrop of nearly two years of war in Gaza that has devastated the enclave, and amid a surge in attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The Jerusalem attackers were shot dead at the scene. Israel says demolishing the homes of relatives of attackers and their fellow villagers is a deterrent to future attacks, Reuters reported.
Palestinians and human rights groups say it is a form of collective punishment prohibited by international law.
Earlier this month, Israel ordered the demolition of all homes built without permits in Qatanna and Qubeiba - the hometowns of the attackers, and said 750 people from the town would have their work permits revoked.
Jason Burke, our international security correspondent, has explored how the wave of international recognitions of a Palestinian state has been received by politicians across the political divide in Israel and how Israel’s increasing isolation on the international stage may affect the government’s standing. Here is an extract of his story:
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, leads the most far-right government in Israel’s history and his coalition is in part dependent on the continuing support of extremist religious Zionist factions, which have a messianic vision of Israel’s destiny, and ultra-Orthodox religious parties.
Neither are likely to be influenced by international outrage at the conduct of the war in Gaza, where an Israeli offensive has killed more than 65,000 and devastated the territory, or the continued expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Nor are supporters of the more mainstream, rightwing Likud, which Netanyahu leads.
Gideon Rahat, a professor of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said that in the short term at least Netanyahu and his allies would be strengthened by the “diplomatic tsunami”, as it has been called by local media, that Israel was facing.
“There are many people in Israel who are worried about international isolation, but most are not Netanyahu supporters and especially not his base,” said Rahat.
This may change, however, as isolation deepens, and could become a factor with politically significant centrist voters at elections, which have to be held before November next year.
Dr Shira Efron, distinguished Israel policy chair and senior fellow at the Rand Corporation, said that recognition was viewed in Israel as a “zero-sum game”.
“The view is that if you are for the self-determination of the Palestinians, you are necessarily against Israel,” she said. “The fear is that if it can happen in the UK or in France, then it can happen anywhere.”
Updated
As we mentioned in an earlier post, Palestine’s ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, raised the Palestinian flag outside the Palestine mission building in London on Monday after the UK’s formal recognition of Palestine as a state, marking what he described as a “long overdue step”. Here is a video from a section of his speech:
Death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza reaches 65,344 says health ministry
At least 65,344 Palestinian people have been killed and 166,795 others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Monday.
Over 61 Palestinian people were killed and 220 others injured in the last 24 hours alone, the ministry, whose figures are generally seen as reliable by the UN, said.
It added in its post on Telegram:
A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the streets, as ambulances and civil defence crews are unable to reach them at the moment.
Two hospitals in Gaza City shut down after intense Israeli bombardment
In an update posted to Telegram, Gaza’s health ministry said the al-Rantisi children’s hospital and the eye hospital in Gaza City are “out of service” due to the Israeli bombing of their surrounding areas.
The ministry said the al-Rantisi hospital was severely damaged after it was directly bombed a few days ago.
Air conditioning units, water tanks and solar panels are reported to have been severely damaged by Israeli attacks on the facility, which Medical Aid for Palestinians has said is the only specialist facility for children with cancer and kidney failure.
In its statement published on Telegram, Gaza’s health ministry said:
The occupation is deliberately and systematically targeting the health services system in the Gaza Strip as part of the genocide policy it is waging against the Strip.
All facilities and hospitals lack safe roads that enable patients and the wounded to reach them.
Patients and the wounded face extreme difficulty in reaching the Jordanian field hospital and al-Quds hospital as a result of the continuous bombing.
The ministry of health renews its call to all concerned parties to provide protection for health facilities and medical staff.
The attacks come amid the large-scale Israeli bombardment of Gaza City which is accompanying the IDF’s ground offensive launched last week in defiance of international opposition.
The city, already suffering from a catastrophic famine caused by Israel’s restrictions on aid, was under attack weeks before the offensive was officially declared.
If Israeli troops take over Gaza City, the entire 2.1 million population of the devastated territory will be confined to a small enclave in the south.
Updated
Arab and Muslim leaders are to meet Donald Trump in New York to discuss their plan for a UN-mandated international stabilisation force in Gaza after France joined the UK, Canada and Australia in recognising Palestine as a state.
Israel has warned that it might respond to the recognition of Palestine by annexing the West Bank, citing claims from Hamas that recognition by allies of Israel was a victory for the terror group.
France has said the plan for a stabilisation force would marginalise Hamas by disarming the group and excluding it from power.
The proposal, which is due to be endorsed on Monday at a UN conference on Palestinian statehood, includes a UN-mandated force to provide security in Gaza as well as oversee the disarmament of Hamas and help train a Palestinian Authority (PA) police force.
The Arab League declared in July that Hamas must play no further role in governance, with power handed to a newly elected PA to govern Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Hamas would be required to hand over its weapons to the authority.
The Trump meeting, scheduled after his address to the UN’s general assembly, is the most direct engagement between the White House and Arab states on post-ceasefire plans for Gaza since he was elected president for a second time.
Some French mayors have defied government orders and flown Palestinian flags on town halls, with more expected to follow suit as France prepares to formally recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly.
It’s unclear how many cities will join the initiative on Monday after Socialist leader Olivier Faure’s call to fly the flags despite warnings from the Interior Ministry against such displays in a country with both Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim populations, AP reported.
But the call has been gaining momentum as Palestinian flags have been more and more visible in France over the nearly two-year war in Gaza.
Palestinian banners were on display in demonstrations this week during a big day of protests across the country that criticised several polices by French president Emmanuel Macron and his government.
The Palestinian flag has been flying at the town hall of Malakoff, a suburb of Paris, since Friday. The city mayor, Jacqueline Belhomme, told the Associated Press on Sunday she was ordered to take it down but refused to comply.
“We stand with the Palestinian people; it is something symbolically important, just as we did some time ago with the Ukrainian flag when we stood with the Ukrainian people who were under attack by Russia.”
A Palestinian firefighter tries to extinguish fire at a residential building hit in an Israeli strike, amid an Israeli military operation, in Gaza City, earlier today.
Scotland’s first minister has urged the UK government to “take further action” after recognising the Palestinian state.
John Swinney attended an event at the Palestinian Mission in London on Monday marking the decision, PA reported.
While he welcomed the decision, the first minister also urged the government to go further, including imposing sanctions on members of the Israeli government, pulling out of the free trade deal with the country and ending all military cooperation with Israel.
Also calling for the UK to join South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and commit to executing International Criminal Court arrest warrants, the first minister said:
This is a historic moment for the people of Palestine which should have come long ago.
I have been clear that the UK’s recognition of the State of Palestine should have been unconditional, but this decision goes some way towards acknowledging the UK’s solemn and historic responsibility towards all peoples of the region.
While this announcement is welcome news, this is just the first step towards establishing the two-state solution.
I urge the UK government to take further action to accelerate peace including continuing to call for an immediate ceasefire and the resumption of free flowing aid.
The international community must use all its energy to persuade and pressurise Israel to end the violence and return to a peace process.
A two-state solution is the only option that can provide peace, prosperity and security for both the state of Palestine and the state of Israel.
Palestine’s ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, has addressed a crowd in front of the Palestine Mission in central London during a special ceremony to mark its transition to becoming Palestine’s embassy in the country after the UK formally recognised Palestine as an independent state yesterday.
“We are gathered today in front of the Palestinian Mission to the UK here in London to mark a historic moment,” Zomlot said.
“In the same capital of the Balfour Declaration, after more than a century of ongoing denial, dispossession and erasure, the UK government has finally taken the long overdue step of recognising the state of Palestine,” he added.
The UK is to recognise a Palestinian state based provisionally on 1967 borders, before Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and West Bank. It will also pave the way for full diplomatic relations.
What do opponents of recognising Palestinian statehood say?
This snippet is from an explainer written by my colleagues Patrick Wintour and Archie Bland:
There are two different criticisms. Israel and the US claim that recognition is a reward for the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023. Israel also claims the Palestinian Authority leadership is endemically corrupt, repressive and that the promise to hold elections has been repeatedly made, only to be deferred. They claim no partner for peace exists.
A second criticism is that the two-state solution has become a diplomatic fig leaf, and a relic of the past dating back to the 1993 Oslo accords that proposed a Palestinian state on 1967 borders.
These critics argue the emotions ingrained by 7 October mean support for the concept has drained away on both sides of the divide.
In a new book, Tomorrow is Yesterday, two veteran negotiators – Robert Malley and Hussein Agha – describe the two-state solution as a meaningless distraction and a performative notion used by diplomats for 30 years to avoid finding real solutions.
They say without practical steps to force Israel engage, “the offer of recognition won’t change the life of a single Palestinian”.
Israel reopens key border crossing with Jordan
The Allenby crossing, the only gateway between the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Jordan, has reopened, a spokesperson for the Israeli authority managing the land border said on Monday, according to Reuters.
Israel officially closed the crossing on 19 September, a day after a Jordanian truck driver opened fire there, killing two Israeli soldiers.
The border crossing is also the main route for transporting commercial goods between Jordan and the West Bank.
Two leading human rights organisations based in Israel, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights, have also said Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez, the EU’s former foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, and Amnesty International are among others who have said the same thing.
Updated
The UN investigators cited examples of the scale of the Israeli killings, aid blockages, forced displacement and the destruction of a fertility clinic to back up its genocide finding.
The 1948 UN Genocide Convention defines genocide as crimes committed “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such”. To count as genocide, at least one of five acts must have occurred.
The UN commission found that Israel had committed four of them: killing; causing serious bodily or mental harm; deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinians in whole or in part; and imposing measures intended to prevent births.
It cited as evidence interviews with victims, witnesses, doctors, verified open-source documents and satellite imagery analysis compiled since the war began two years ago.
Israel is fighting allegations at the world’s top court, the international court of justice, of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel has denied the claims.
Updated
UN investigators said last week they had determined that Israel has committed “genocide” in Gaza since October 2023, with the “intent to destroy the Palestinians” in the territory.
The United Nations independent international commission of inquiry (COI), which does not speak on behalf of the UN, found that “genocide is occurring in Gaza and is continuing to occur”, said its head, Navi Pillay.
“When clear signs and evidence of genocide emerge, the absence of action to stop it amounts to complicity,” she added. “All states are under a legal obligation to use all means that are reasonably available to them to stop the genocide in Gaza.”
The report concluded that Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as its president, Isaac Herzog, and the former defence minister Yoav Gallant, had “incited the commission of genocide” and that Israeli authorities had “failed to take action against them to punish” this incitement.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Daniel Meron, called the report a scandalous and fake “libellous rant” that had been authored by “Hamas proxies”.
Updated
Italian cities see protests, strikes and blockades against Israel's 'genocide' in Gaza
Cities across Italy on Monday saw pro-Palestinian protests, strikes and blockades responding to calls from unions to “denounce the genocide in Gaza” and for diplomatic and economic sanctions against Israel.
In Rome, hundreds of high school students gathered outside Termini train station, while there were also protests in northern cities Milan and Turin, the central city Florence and southern cities Naples, Bari and Palermo.
Dockworkers in Genoa and Livorno in the centre-north blocked the ports, according to reports. Italian dockworkers say they are seeking to prevent Italy from being used as a staging post for the transfer of arms and other supplies to Israel.
In Rome, the Italian capital, many buses were not running and the metro service was disrupted, reporters from the Agence France-Presse news agency said.
Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, whose government is ideologically close to Donald Trump, has repeatedly voiced her “concern” over Israel’s war but reportedly does not plan on recognising a Palestinian state right now.
Rome has also expressed reluctance about implementing the EU’s proposed trade sanctions on Israel.
Updated
Malta to announce formal recognition of Palestinian state later today
Malta will announce its formal recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly in New York on Monday, the prime minister’s office said.
The Mediterranean EU island has a history of support for Palestinian causes and has backed efforts for a two-state solution, while maintaining diplomatic relations with Israel.
Malta’s prime minister, Robert Abela, first announced plans for the recognition of a Palestinian state in May, but the UN conference was postponed to a later date.
The Israeli military, which justifies its assault on Gaza City by saying it wants to “destroy Hamas military infrastructure” hasn’t given a timeline for the ground offensive, but there are indications it could take months.
Amid this flurry of diplomatic activity, Israel is continuing to launch deadly attacks on Gaza, including on Gaza City, the biggest urban centre in the territory.
Despite international opposition, Israel launched a ground offensive in Gaza City last week as the military expanded its assault on the city after weeks of intense bombardments saw entire apartment blocks reduced to rubble and forced many Palestinian people to flee southward despite there being nowhere safe to go.
The Israeli military has targeted high-rise towers in the city, telling aid workers that only hospitals will not be targeted, and ordering the city’s 1 million residents to leave.
Hundreds of thousands of residents, many of whom are too frail to flee, remain in Gaza City, where a famine – caused by Israeli restrictions on aid – has already been declared.
An overwhelming majority of Palestinian people have been forced to move numerous times during Israel’s war on Gaza and have been squeezed into increasingly small zones, which are themselves often overcrowded and subject to Israeli bombardment.
At least 15 Palestinian people have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn, including 12 in Gaza City, Al Jazeera is reporting.
The Israeli military said on Monday it had reinforced all “combat sectors” with air, land and naval forces across the country during the Jewish New Year holiday.
Canada yesterday became the first G7 (Group of Seven) nation to officially recognise a Palestinian state. The UK quickly followed suit, and France, which has been leading the drive towards recognition, is expected to this week.
Germany and Italy, meanwhile, which are also G7 members, have made it clear that they have no intention to do the same – at least for now.
Along with some other European governments, they believe recognition should be part of two-state negotiations, despite the prospect looking extremely unlikely as Israel’s assault on Gaza continues unabated.
As he left for the UN in New York on Monday, German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said that “a negotiated two-state solution is the path that can allow Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace, security and dignity.”
“For Germany, recognition of a Palestinian state comes more at the end of the process. But this process must begin now,” he said.
Japan, eager to maintain good relations with the US, reportedly does not intend to recognise Palestine at this moment.
Updated
What does recognition of Palestinian statehood entail practically?
The Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, has done a useful explainer with a section looking at what recognising Palestine would look like in practice. Here is an extract:
Recognition is largely symbolic. When the UK’s position was announced the then foreign secretary, David Lammy, said: “It will not change the position on the ground.”
But it allows the UK to enter treaties with Palestine and would mean that the Palestine head of mission becomes a fully recognised ambassador.
Some argue that a greater onus would be placed on the UK to boycott goods imported into the UK by Israel that come from the occupied territories.
But it is seen more as a statement on Palestine’s future, and disapproval of Israel’s refusal to negotiate a Palestinian state…
There are genuine fears that Israel is about to annex the West Bank or make Gaza so uninhabitable that Palestinians are forced over the borders into Jordan or Egypt, so destroying the possibility of a Palestinian homeland.
Recognition that Palestine is a state with the right to self-determination is an attempt to show Israel cannot simply annex land that the international court of justice has declared to be illegally occupied.
Why is the UK recognising Palestinian statehood now?
Formally, the UK is recognising Palestine as an independent state as part of an attempt to preserve and nurture the vision of a two-state solution in which the state of Palestine coexists next to Israel.
There are genuine fears that Israel is about to annex the West Bank or make Gaza so uninhabitable that Palestinians are forced over the borders into Jordan or Egypt, so destroying the possibility of a Palestinian homeland.
Recognition that Palestine is a state with the right to self-determination is an attempt to show Israel cannot simply annex land that the international court of justice has declared to be illegally occupied.
The UK placed a set of conditions on Israel – and not the Palestinians – that if met would have meant Britain would hold back from recognition.
These were: a ceasefire in Gaza, an end to Israel’s military campaign, and a commitment to long-term negotiations on a two-state solution.
You can read more here:
Updated
On Sunday, a US state department spokesperson dismissed as “performative” the move to recognise Palestine.
“Our focus remains on serious diplomacy, not performative gestures. Our priorities are clear: the release of the hostages, the security of Israel, and peace and prosperity for the entire region that is only possible free from Hamas,” the spokesperson was quoted as having said.
Analysts in Israel suggest that Benjamin Netanyahu will make a decision on how to respond to the wave of western countries recognising an independent Palestinian state after his forthcoming trip to Washington at the end of the month.
Donald Trump has not commented on Sunday’s moves to recognition but has expressed his opposition to them in the past.
Updated
More than 150 countries are expected to have recognised Palestine by the end of next week, although some may set conditions.
Qatar welcomes recognition of Palestinian state by some western countries
Qatar has welcomed the recognition of a Palestinian state by the UK, Canada, Australia and Portugal, saying the move supported efforts to achieve a lasting peace in the region.
The UK’s deputy prime minister David Lammy, who will represent the UK at the general assembly, said yesterday that the prospects of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel “lays in tatters” after Israel carried out an airstrike on a Hamas negotiating team in Qatar at the start of the month, which caused a huge diplomatic fallout.
Hamas said six people were killed in the attack, including the son of its exiled Gaza chief, Khalil al-Hayya. It said its top leadership, including the negotiations team, had survived.
Qatar, a close US ally, had been hosting negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza, and has played a key role as an intermediary. It has hosted the Hamas political bureau since 2012, and hosts a large American airbase in the desert near Doha.
Last week, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, called on Qatar to continue to play a constructive role in bringing an end to the war and said it could help reach the goals of releasing all 48 hostages still held in Gaza, disarming Hamas and building a better future for Palestinian people.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been bullish in his defiance of international condemnation of the attack in Doha and said he did not rule out further strikes on Hamas leaders “wherever they are”.
Qatari prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani has called on the international community to stop applying “double standards” and to punish Israel.
Updated
European officials warn Israel over West Bank annexation plans following moves towards recognition
We are restarting our live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza and the diplomacy around it.
European officials have reportedly warned Israel not to annex parts of the occupied West Bank in retaliation for western countries recognition of Palestinian statehood.
The UK, Australia and Canada all formally recognised Palestinian statehood on Sunday, in a historic move that put three major US allies at odds with the Trump administration and drew an immediate, angry response from Israel.
Portugal also recognised Palestine yesterday, and France is among the European countries expected to do the same at the UN general assembly in New York this week.
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said yesterday that recognition rewarded Hamas’ terrorism and said “we doubled Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and we will continue on this path”.
The Israeli far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right national security minister, called for wholesale annexation of the occupied West Bank in response to the declarations.
“The days when Britain and other countries would determine our future are over … The only response to this anti-Israeli move is sovereignty over the historic homeland of the Jewish people in Judea and Samaria, and permanently removing the folly of a Palestinian state from the agenda,” Smotrich wrote on X.
The UK’s foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, has told the BBC that she has warned Israel not to annex parts of the West Bank in response to the UK’s recognition of Palestinian statehood, which has particular historic significance given the UK’s role in the creation of Israel after the second world war.
Cooper said:
We have been clear that this decision that we are taking is about the best way to respect the security for Israel as well as the security for Palestinians.
It’s about protecting peace and justice and crucially security for the Middle East and we will continue to work with everyone across the region in order to be able to do that.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper says she has warned Israel not to annex parts of the West Bank in retaliation for the UK's recognition of Palestinian statehood.
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) September 22, 2025
She was speaking to the BBC before attending a conference at the United Nations in New Yorkhttps://t.co/PabfJxI3N2 pic.twitter.com/N6Cbr3VzJp
The UK is to recognise a Palestinian state based provisionally on 1967 borders, before Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and West Bank. It will also pave the way for full diplomatic relations, with the Palestinian head of mission, Husam Zomlot, likely to be upgraded to full ambassadorial status.
If Israel does carry out some form of annexation of the West Bank, European officials would consider restricting trade with settlements, imposing more sanctions on violent settlers, and formally adopt an advisory opinion issued last year by the UN’s international court of justice, which found Israel’s occupation to be in violation of international law, according to the Financial Times.
