As world leaders meet at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York this week, with a ceasefire in Gaza top of the agenda, more countries are declaring their recognition of Palestine as a state.
The latest to do so are the UK, Canada, Australia and Portugal, joining the ranks of Ireland and the majority of the world.
More than 145 countries now recognise Palestine as a state to date – yet violations of international law, including war crimes and the crime of genocide, by Israel continue unchecked both in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
This recognition of Palestine as a state is a moral and legal obligation that is long overdue. But without real action and accountability, it risks being a dangerous distraction.
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The lack of follow through and action to guarantee Palestinians right to determine their own future, to live in freedom, dignity and justice makes recognition meaningless. Recognition without action becomes a hollow gesture, a symbolic comfort for the world while we continue to bury our loved ones.
Words without action are complicity on genocide.
While the diplomatic focus on recognition comes front and centre, the horror of genocide continues, especially in Gaza City, and Palestinians in the West Bank face annexation and oppression, a suffocation of their very being.
Gaza City is, right now, facing the worst horror on earth, with Israel inflicting unprecedented brutality and ethnically cleansing the city. Famine is confirmed. Robotic drones are encircling, razing buildings to the ground, aid is cut off and the number of dead mounts daily.
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Some have fled, but for many the money required to move south, estimated at $5,000 (€4,250) per person, is too much for them to acquire. This covers transportation from Gaza City to the south which is about $3,000 (€2,550) and then to get a tent on a small piece of land costs approximately $2,000 (€1,700).
Others, including the elderly, those with disabilities, children starved and close to death, pregnant women simply can’t flee. They face certain death.
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Palestinian women are paying a particularly heavy price. They are facing displacement, starvation, and heightened risks of violence, yet they are also on the front lines of survival, care and community leadership.
As Palestinian women human rights defenders remind us, their leadership is essential for building a just peace. The summit in New York this week will mark 30 years since the Beijing Conference, where major global commitments on advancing women’s rights were made.
It is unconscionable that Palestinian women continue to face such systematic violations under occupation while carrying the burden of resistance and survival. Their rights and leadership must not be an afterthought, but the foundation of any lasting peace.
Last week one of our partners in Gaza city spoke to Hanin, a displaced woman from Beit Hanoun, who is nine months pregnant and now in a displaced camp in Gaza City. She described the severe malnutrition she has faced during her pregnancy, and her fears about giving birth to an unhealthy baby because of poor nutrition and medical care.
This is what she said: “Since the beginning of my pregnancy, I have suffered from severe malnutrition. My pregnancy is very difficult, as I am in the ninth month and about to give birth.
“My unborn baby is small and weak. I am afraid that my baby will be born abnormally, weak or malnourished.”
She and her husband are also now facing the likelihood of being displaced once more as Israeli air strikes in Gaza City intensify. But, along with thousands more, they have nowhere safe to go.
The number of people killed since the start of this atrocity in October 2023 has now passed 65,000, but the true figure is believed to be much higher. Of that figure, more than 20,000 are estimated to be children.
For every hour of debate in the UN chamber this week, a child in Gaza will be killed, and the horrific nightmare the people of Gaza are living will continue. Over 165,000 people have suffered horrific life-changing injuries and an estimated 40,000 children have lost one or both parents.
Food, fuel and medical supplies are dangerously low or inaccessible. Hospitals lie in ruins and basic services have collapsed.
Meanwhile in the West Bank, where I am based, and East Jerusalem, settlement expansion continues unchecked.
Since 2023, Israel accelerated its settlement activities, a 180 per cent increase in just five years. In June 2024, the Israeli government designated 12.7sq km of land in the Jordan Valley as “state land”.
In May 2025, the Israeli cabinet decided to establish 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank. Most of these approvals were granted for settlements located “deep into the West Bank”, further fragmenting Palestinian territory and imposing new movement restrictions on Palestinians.
There has also been the revival of the “E1″ (East 1) plan – frozen since 2012 amid widespread international opposition – approving construction of 3,400 new housing units in a bloc cutting off Palestinian movement between the northern and southern West Bank.
Our biggest fear is that this week of diplomatic focus will change nothing. To avoid being complicit, States must now translate the recognition of the Palestinian state recognition into concrete measures.
They must act to ensure the genocide ends, that the occupation ends; that sanctions are enforced for violations of international law. The International Court of Justice has already ordered Israel to prevent acts of genocide, yet impunity prevails.
[ Israeli forces advance on Gaza City as displaced Palestinians panicOpens in new window ]
Governments must act to enforce these rulings, alongside accountability efforts at the International Criminal Court. A lasting solution for the entire region requires an end to the unlawful occupation by Israel, respect of all Palestinian rights including agency to shape their own future, and full accountability for violations.
Nothing less is good enough.
Every strong condemnation paired with no consequence emboldens those who violate international law. We are beyond symbolic gestures. We are in a crisis of morality and law.
The results of UNGA meetings must become a turning point. Let this week be a week of action. Because otherwise, in the face of genocide, in the face of mass displacement, in the face of starvation and ruins, in the face of losing our land and lives, silence and recognition will continue the agony for Palestinians.
What we need is not only acknowledgment of our statehood, but real, urgent measures to end the bloodshed, hold perpetrators accountable, and guarantee protection for a people who have been left to endure decades of injustice. Without this, recognition risks being another promise that comes too late.
Riham Jafari is Advocacy and Communications Coordinator of ActionAid Palestine, which is supported by ActionAid Ireland
