LONDON — The United Kingdom, Canada and Australia officially recognized Palestine as a state on Sunday, marking a significant shift in foreign policy and a step away from their alignment with the United States, with several other European nations and U.S. allies set to follow suit this week.
“Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two state solution, the United Kingdom formally recognizes the State of Palestine,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement.
Canada had, moments before, become the first Group of 7 nation to recognize the state of Palestine, as Prime Minister Mark Carney promised a “peaceful future for both the State of Palestine and the State of Israel.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese released a statement shortly after formally recognizing “the independent and sovereign State of Palestine.”
The move is largely symbolic, and grants the Palestinians increased diplomatic standing and the potential for treaty-making.
But it does not fundamentally change the realities on the ground in the Gaza Strip, where the humanitarian crisis continues to worsen after nearly two years of war, or the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians have come under increasing pressure from Jewish settlers and the military.
More than 65,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, including thousands of children, according to the local Palestinian health ministry, with much of the territory destroyed and the majority of the population driven from their homes, often multiple times.
Israeli strikes killed at least 34 people in Gaza City overnight, health officials said Sunday, as Israel pressed ahead with its offensive in the enclave’s most populous city, where hundreds of thousands of people have been living under famine.
It’s against that backdrop that a growing list of countries, many traditional backers of Israel, have said they will recognize Palestine.
The U.K. said in July it would recognize Palestine as a state unless the Israeli government “takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation” in Gaza, and its official recognition comes amid mounting international criticism of Israel over the war in the enclave.
“In the face of the growing horror in the Middle East, we are acting to keep alive the possibility of peace and of a two-state solution,” added Starmer. “That means a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable Palestinian state — at the moment we have neither.”
Britain’s decision has angered its close ally Israel as well as the United States, which argues that recognition emboldens extremists and rewards Hamas, the group that led the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks on Israel that killed some 1,200 people and left around 250 taken hostage, marking a major escalation in the decades-long conflict.
Recognition of a Palestinian state is “nothing but a reward for jihadist Hamas — emboldened by its Muslim Brotherhood affiliated in the U.K.,” Israel’s foreign ministry said on X.
“Hamas leaders themselves openly admit: this recognition is a direct outcome, the ‘fruit’ for the 7 October massacre,” it said.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum, a group representing hostage families, condemned the decision to recognize a Palestinian state, while “turning a blind eye” to the hostages that remain in captivity.
“We believe that any discussion about recognizing a Palestinian state must be contingent upon the immediate release of all hostages,” it said in a statement Sunday.
Starmer said recognition was “not a reward for Hamas,” because it means Hamas can have no future, and no role in government. Albanese also said Hamas must have “no role in Palestine.”
The U.K.’s recognition is part of a wider shift among U.S. allies, bringing them closer to the more than 140 out of 193, U.N. member states that have already recognized Palestine as a state.
France is expected to formally declare its recognition of a Palestinian state on Monday at a United Nations conference in New York co-chaired with Saudi Arabia, coinciding with the start of the U.N. General Assembly.
French President Emmanuel Macron told Israeli television Channel 12 on Saturday that nations “have to recognize the legitimate right of Palestinian people to have a state.”
He also denounced Israel’s new ground offensive in Gaza City as “absolutely unacceptable” and “a huge mistake.”
Portugal also confirmed Saturday it would recognize a Palestinian state on Sunday.
Other countries on the brink of recognition include Belgium, Portugal, Luxembourg and New Zealand, which are likely to act either immediately before or at the U.N. special conference on a two-state solution in New York on Monday.
Spain, Norway and Ireland recognized a state of Palestine last year.
The creation of a Palestinian state refers to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel currently occupies both the West Bank and Gaza, meaning the Palestinian Authority is not in full control of its land or people.
Israeli authorities recently approved a new settlement project that ultranationalist lawmakers as a death knell for dreams of Palestinian statehood.
