France recognised a Palestinian state at a world summit in New York on Monday, nearly two years into the war in Gaza, joining western allies such as Britain and Canada who made the same historic move on Sunday and were rebuked by Israel.
“We must pave the way for peace,” the summit host, French president Emmanuel Macron, said to applause at the beginning of a planned three-hour session at the United Nations.
“Today, France, recognises the state of Palestine.”
While the summit could boost the morale of Palestinians, it is not expected to deliver change on the ground, where the most far-right government in Israel’s history has declared there will be no Palestinian state as it pushes on with its war against Hamas in Gaza.
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At the summit convened by France and Saudi Arabia, countries including Belgium, Malta, Luxembourg, Andorra and San Marino were also set to announce that they would recognise the state of Palestine. Britain, Canada, Australia and Portugal all recognised a Palestinian state on Sunday.
The two-state solution was the bedrock of the US-backed peace process ushered in by the 1993 Oslo Accords. The process suffered heavy pushback from both sides and has all but died.
Israel and the United States will boycott the summit, Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon, said, describing the event as a “circus”.
[ What would wider recognition of Palestine mean for Palestinians and Israel?Opens in new window ]
While the majority of European countries now recognise a Palestinian state, both Germany and Italy have signalled they are unlikely to make such a move soon.
Germany – long a strong supporter of Israel because of its responsibility for the Holocaust – has grown more critical of Israeli policy, while insisting that recognition of a Palestinian state should come at the end of a political process to agree on a two-state solution.
The German government spokesperson said on Monday there must be no further annexations in Israeli-occupied territory. Italy said recognising a Palestinian state could be “counterproductive”.
Israel is considering annexing part of the occupied West Bank as a possible response as well as specific bilateral measures against Paris, Israeli officials have said, even though the recognitions are expected to be largely symbolic.
Annexation could backfire and alienate key countries such as the United Arab Emirates, a global oil power and trade hub with wide diplomatic clout across the Middle East.
The UAE, the most prominent of the Arab states that normalised ties with Israel under the US-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020, has said such a move would undermine the spirit of the agreement.
Norway recognised a Palestinian state jointly with Ireland and Spain in 2024. But Norway’s foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide was cautious about the latest statehood recognitions.
“While international political support for a two-state solution has rarely been stronger, the situation on the ground is worse than ever,” said Mr Eide.
The US administration has also warned of possible consequences for those who take measures against Israel, including France.
The summit, in advance of this week’s United Nations General Assembly, follows Israel’s launch of a long-threatened ground assault on Gaza City with few prospects for a ceasefire two years after Palestinian Islamist militants Hamas attacked Israel, triggering the war in the Palestinian enclave.
In Gaza City, local officials said two hospitals were taken out of service due to the escalation of Israel’s ground offensive and damage caused by continued Israeli bombing, as tanks advanced deeper into the territory.
Gaza’s health ministry said Al-Rantissi Children’s Hospital had been badly damaged in an Israeli bombardment a few days ago. At the same time, it reported Israeli attacks in the vicinity of the nearby Eye Hospital, which forced the suspension of services there, too.
Nearly two years into the war, Israel describes Gaza City as the last bastion of Hamas. Since Israel launched its ground assault on the city this month, the military has been demolishing housing blocks it says were being used by the group.
On Monday, residents said Israeli tanks had advanced deeper into the Sheikh Radwan area and Jala Street in northern Gaza City, where the two hospitals are located, while in Tel Al-Hawa in the southeast tanks had pushed deeper in the direction of the western parts of the city.
They said Israeli forces had used explosive-laden vehicles, detonated remotely, to blow up dozens of houses in the two areas.
In a meeting on Monday at the military headquarters in Tel Aviv with defence minister Israel Katz and chief of staff Eyal Zamir, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed his determination to eliminate Hamas, secure the release of the remaining hostages and ensure that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel, his office said.
The offensive has alarmed the families of Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza. Twenty of those 48 captives are thought to still be alive.
Hamas’s military wing released a video on Monday of Israeli hostage Alon Ohel, 24. It was not immediately clear when the video was recorded. Ohel was last seen in a video released by Hamas on September 5th.
Rights groups have condemned Hamas and another militant group in Gaza for releasing videos of hostages, calling it inhumane treatment that amounts to a war crime. Israeli officials have described the videos as psychological warfare.
Meanwhile, local health authorities said at least 25 people had been killed by Israeli fire on Monday across the enclave, most of them in Gaza City.
Hamas’ October 7th, 2023, attacks on Israel killed 1,200 people, and 251 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s two-year-long campaign has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to Gazan health authorities, and has spread famine, demolished most buildings, and displaced most of the territory’s population, in many cases multiple times. - Reuters
