France recognizes Palestine at UN event co-led with Saudi Arabia

Ania Nussbaum and Ellen Milligan, Bloomberg News on Sep 22, 2025

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PARIS — France recognized Palestine as an independent state and, along with Saudi Arabia at a United Nations conference led by the two countries, called on Israel to end the war in Gaza immediately.

“One solution exists to break the cycle of war and destruction: acknowledging each other,” French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday. “We must recognize that Palestinians and Israelis are living in twin solitude.”

Macron pledged to open a Palestinian Embassy once hostages held by Hamas have been released and the militant group’s war with Israel that’s raged for almost two years is over. It is also time for countries around the world to stop questioning the existence of the Israeli state, he said.

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, reading out a message from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who wasn’t in New York, echoed those comments.

The push by France and Saudi Arabia for more countries to recognize Palestinian statehood led to the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia formally doing so on Sunday. They joined almost 150 nations that had already made the move. Of those that don’t view Palestine as a state, the majority are in Western Europe and include the U.S., Japan and New Zealand.

Officials from more than 30 countries are set to speak at the U.N. conference on Monday. Germany and Japan are among the countries represented, though they dealt a blow to Macron’s initiative by giving their support but opting not to recognize Palestine yet.

The diplomatic drive has drawn criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump and from Israel, which says it amounts to a reward for Hamas. Macron countered that recognition is a “defeat for Hamas,” arguing that the group — which seeks Israel’s destruction — isn’t in favor of a two-state solution.

Palestinian officials have broadly said the U.N. event is a symbolic boost in their quest to eventually form a state in the West Bank and Gaza, which together hold over 5 million people.

Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, which has limited power in the West Bank, spoke by video, thanking the participants. He and other Palestinian officials were refused visas by the U.S. government.

Abbas said Hamas should have no role in the future governance of the Palestinian territories and reiterated his condemnation of the group’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza.

Israel’s government is firmly against a Palestinian state, saying it will undermine the Jewish state’s security. The government, and most citizens, have hardened their stance against a two-state solution since Hamas’s assault.

“There will be no Palestinian state,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday. He called formal recognition an “attempt to force upon us a terror state in the heart of our land.”

Netanyahu will speak at the U.N. General Assembly on Friday and will meet Trump at the White House the following Monday. He has said he will announce a response to countries that have recognized Palestine after that.

The U.N. event comes amid heavy fighting in Gaza and Israel signaling the war could last for at least several more months. The Israel Defense Forces started a ground offensive on Gaza City, the territory’s de facto capital, earlier in September, saying the operation would increase pressure on Hamas to surrender and release all the remaining hostages.

Much of the world has condemned the latest military moves, saying they will lead to more suffering for Palestinian civilians. Around 65,000 people have been killed by the conflict in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry there. Last month, a U.N.-backed monitor declared a famine in parts of the territory, following a monthslong Israeli blockade on aid and food.

Hamas killed 1,200 people with its 2023 attack and took another 250 hostage. Of those, 48 are still in captivity, with 20 thought by Israel to be alive.