France is among six countries that have officially recognised a Palestinian state, with the Palestinian Authority praising the move as a “significant” step towards a two-state solution.
On Monday, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, and Andorra officially announced their recognition of a sovereign Palestinian state.
This move adds to the recent recognition from the UK, Canada, Australia, and Portugal on Sunday 22 September.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas described the recent wave of recognition by European states as “a significant and necessary step toward achieving a just and lasting peace in line with legitimate UN solutions.”
The following countries are now included in a list of 159 countries that have formally recognised the state of Palestine, and as of April of this year, 147 of those countries were UN member states.
As of September 2025, over 80% of the international community now recognises a sovereign state of Palestine in light of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, where more than 65,350 Palestinians have been killed.
President Abbas said that “the recognition of the Palestinian people’s right to self determination, freedom, and the embodiment of their independence” will pave the way for a two-state solution to end the current conflict.
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The president stressed the urgent importance of reaching a ceasefire in Gaza, that would enable the safe release of Israeli hostages alongside Palestinian detainees, as well as a full military withdrawal of IDF troops from the besieged enclave.
United Nations General Assembly
At the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, French President Macron declared that “the time has come” to revive the necessary two-state solution to end Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
He said: “It falls on us, this responsibility, to do everything in our power to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution. Today, I declare that France recognises the state of Palestine.”
However, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who recently announced nine resolutions “to stop the genocide in Gaza, prosecute its perpetrators, and support the Palestinian people”, appeared to have disagreed at the UNGA on Monday.
Prime Minister Sanchez told the summit that a two-state solutions was not possible “when the population of those two states is the victim of genocide”.
“The Palestinian people are being annihilated, [so] in the name of reason, in the name of international law and in the name of human dignity, we have to stop the slaughter,” Sanchez said.
Despite this, Husam Zomlot, the head of the Palestine Mission to the UK, has welcomed the wave of recognition, especially from the British government.
However, he argued that these moves are rather a necessary responsibility of the international community in order to end Israel’s genocide, ethnic cleansing and illegal occupation.
U.S. and Israel’s reaction
The US, Israel’s closest ally, has been a vocal critic of the Western governments who have recognised a Palestinian state.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the current moves will “embolden Hamas” and make it harder to end the war.
President Donald Trump also stated that he believes the recognition of Palestine “is a reward to Hamas”.
Israel has also reiterated it’s strong disapproval, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling it “an absurd price for terrorism”.
Netanyahu described the UK’s recognition of Palestine as “nothing but a reward for Jihadist Hamas”.
Despite this, Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza continues, with over 65,300 Palestinians killed and the humanitarian catastrophe worsening on a daily basis.
