Gulf states yesterday welcomed President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that France would recognise the state of Palestine, and urged other countries to follow suit.
Other European Union members have recognised Palestine since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023 but France is the first member of the G7 group of major advanced economies to do so.
A ministerial-level meeting co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia to discuss a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is planned for later this month.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar, a key mediator in indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas on ending the Gaza war, welcomed the French move. Its foreign ministry said the move “constitutes significant support for the legitimate rights of the brotherly Palestinian people” and “contributes to advancing prospects for achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the region.”
The Kuwaiti foreign ministry said it “commended this significant step.”
The GCC also praised the move.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas hailed the decision calling it a ‘victory for the Palestinian cause.’
“This reflects France’s commitment to supporting the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights to their land and their homeland.”
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump appeared yesterday to abandon Gaza ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, both saying it had become clear that the Palestinians did not want a deal.
Netanyahu said Israel was now mulling ‘alternative’ options to achieve its goals of bringing its hostages home from Gaza and ending Hamas rule in the enclave, where starvation is spreading and most of the population is homeless amid widespread ruin.
Trump said he believed Hamas leaders would now be ‘hunted down’. The remarks appeared to leave little to no room, at least in the short term, to resume negotiations to pause the fighting, at a time when international concern is mounting over worsening hunger in war-shattered Gaza.
US envoy Steve Witkoff said overnight Hamas was to blame for the impasse.
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim said on Facebook that the talks had been constructive, and criticised Witkoff’s remarks as aimed at exerting pressure on Israel’s behalf.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right national security minister in Netanyahu’s coalition, welcomed Netanyahu’s step, calling for a total halt of aid to Gaza and complete conquest of the enclave, adding in a post on X: “Total annihilation of Hamas, encourage emigration, (Jewish) settlement.”
The Israeli military said yesterday it had agreed to let countries airdrop aid into Gaza. Hamas dismissed this as a stunt.
Gaza medical authorities said nine more Palestinians had died over the past 24 hours from malnutrition or starvation. Dozens have died in the past few weeks as hunger worsens.
Israel says it has let enough food into Gaza and accuses the United Nations of failing to distribute it, in what the Israeli foreign ministry called yesterday ‘a deliberate ploy to defame Israel’. The United Nations says it is operating as effectively as possible under Israeli restrictions.
Palestinian health officials said Israeli air strikes and gunfire had killed at least 21 people across the enclave yesterday, including five killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City.
In the city, residents carried the body of journalist Adam Abu Harbid through the streets wrapped in a white shroud, his blue flak jacket marked PRESS draped across his body. He was killed overnight in a strike on tents housing displaced people.
Mahmoud Awadia, another journalist attending the funeral, said the Israelis were deliberately trying to kill reporters. Israel denies intentionally targeting journalists.
Israel and the United States both criticised Macron’s decision to recognise Palestinian independence. Netanyahu called it a “reward for terrorism”.
Western countries have been committed for decades to an eventual independent Palestinian state but have long said it should arise out of a negotiated peace process.
The leaders of the so-called E3 group of France, Britain and Germany called yesterday for an end to the war in Gaza through an immediate ceasefire and said they were committed to supporting diplomatic efforts by the US, Qatar and Egypt.
&uuid=(email))