Recognising a Palestinian state in Gaza, Jerusalem and the West Bank, France’s President Emmanuel Macron said that now it is time to do justice to the Palestinian people, and suggested a UN force in Gaza as a postwar plan to ensure Hamas does not come to power, while Israel threatened annexation of the West Bank in response to countries recognising the Palestinian state.
France’s recognition was announced at a special summit of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where the French leader also called for the deployment of a UN-mandated stabilisation force in postwar Gaza, and the proposal was supported by several European states, while the United States and Israel rejected it outright.
The plan envisaged the disarmament of Hamas and the training of a Palestinian Authority (PA) police force, and it was welcomed by Arab and Muslim leaders who are simultaneously pursuing their own ideas for Gaza’s future governance.
The decision came as Monaco, Belgium, Andorra, Malta and Luxembourg joined the UK, Canada, Australia and Portugal in recognising Palestine, and the wave of recognitions brought the tally to nearly three-quarters of UN member states, creating a dramatic shift in international diplomacy.
The Palestinian Authority praised the decisions as historic, while Arab League members argued that Hamas should play no role in postwar governance, and they pressed for the PA to be restored with the support of regional and international partners.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the assembly that statehood must be regarded as a right and not a reward, and he stressed that neither the Hamas assault of 7 October nor the sweeping punitive actions by Israel could be justified, while also warning that settlement expansion and threats of annexation were eroding the two-state solution.
Israel responded with outrage across its political spectrum, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the recognitions an absurdity and vowed not to change policy, and opposition figures used similar language while denouncing the decisions as dangerous rewards for terrorism.
Analysts in Jerusalem argued that the developments would not alter the government’s course and might instead strengthen Netanyahu’s far-right coalition, which relies on extremist religious Zionist factions and ultra-Orthodox parties who reject outside pressure.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military operations in Gaza intensified, with reports of dozens of Palestinians killed in Gaza City, even as the international debate on postwar arrangements gathered momentum.
The Arab League has insisted that Hamas must disarm and transfer authority to the PA, and several Gulf states have linked their participation in any stabilisation force to guarantees that a two-state process would be pursued without further settlement expansion or annexation.
The UK’s foreign secretary urged Israel not to escalate by annexing parts of the West Bank, warning that such moves would undermine the viability of a Palestinian state, and Germany’s foreign minister said recognition should normally come at the end of negotiations but accepted that the process now needed to begin.
France and its European partners framed their recognition as a way of marginalising Hamas while reviving the path to peace, and Arab states prepared to meet US President Donald Trump to press him on whether Washington would support their stabilisation proposals, despite his administration’s continued scepticism about the PA’s role.