LONDON — The U.K., Australia and Canada formally recognized a Palestinian state on Sunday, prompting an angry response from Israel, which ruled out the prospect.

The coordinated initiative from the Commonwealth nations and longtime allies of Israel, announced on the eve of the annual U.N. General Assembly gathering, reflects growing outrage at Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza and the steps taken by the Israeli government to thwart any efforts to create a Palestinian state, including by the continued expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has faced pressure to take a harder line on Israel within his governing Labor Party, said his nation’s move is intended “to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis.” But he insisted that it wasn’t a reward for Hamas, which rules Gaza and is designated a terrorist group by the U.K. and the U.S.

“Today, to revive the hope of peace and a two-state solution, I state clearly as prime minister of this great country that the United Kingdom formally recognizes the state of Palestine,” Starmer said in his video message. “We recognized the state of Israel more than 75 years ago as a homeland for the Jewish people. Today we join over 150 countries who recognize a Palestinian state also. A pledge to the Palestinian and Israeli people that there can be a better future.”

The moves by the three countries prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to say that the establishment of a Palestinian state “will not happen,” while Hamas urged the international community to isolate Israel.

International outrage has mounted over Israel’s 23-month war on Gaza, which has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians and caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with experts saying Gaza City is experiencing famine. A U.N. commission this month declared that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, a claim Israel denies.

An expected but historic move

The U.K. announcement was widely anticipated after Starmer said in July that Britain would recognize a Palestinian state unless Israel agreed to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, allowed the United Nations to bring in aid and took other steps toward long-term peace.

More countries are expected to do so at the U.N. General Assembly this week, including France, which like the U.K., is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council. Portugal is set to do so as early as Sunday evening.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in his statement that the three announcements Sunday were “part of a coordinated international effort to build new momentum for a two-state solution.”

Palestinian and Israeli reactions

Netanyahu denounced the three allies, whom he accused of proffering a “prize” to Hamas.

“It will not happen,” he said. “A Palestinian state will not be established west of the Jordan River.”

Netanyahu, who is set to give a speech to the General Assembly on Friday before heading to see President Trump at the White House, said he would announce Israel’s response after the trip.

The Israeli leader has threatened to take unilateral steps, including the possibility of annexing parts of the West Bank, in response to world leaders’ recognition of a Palestinian state. Such a move would clear the way for Israel to deepen its control over the territory — and escalate tensions with the international community.

Hamas hailed the three nations’ announcement Sunday, calling it a “rightful outcome of our people’s struggle, steadfastness, and sacrifices on the path to liberation and return.” The Islamic militant group, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, called on the world to isolate Israel.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whose government exercises limited autonomy in towns and cities in the West Bank, said the U.K. announcement was an important step toward achieving a “just and lasting peace in the region based on the two-state solution,” the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said.

Historical overlay

The U.K. and France have a historical role in the politics of the Middle East over the last 100 years, having carved up the region after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I.

As part of that carve-up, the U.K. became the governing power of what was then Palestine. It was also author of the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which backed the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people.”

However, the second part of the declaration has been largely neglected over the decades. It noted “that nothing shall be done, nothing which may prejudice the civil and religious rights” of the Palestinian people.

“It’s significant for France and the U.K. to recognize Palestine because of the legacy of these two countries’ involvement in the Middle East,” said Burcu Ozcelik, senior research fellow for Middle East Security at London-based Royal United Services Institute. “But without the United States coming on board with the idea of a Palestine, I think very little will change on the ground.”

The Palestinian head of mission in the U.K., Husam Zomlot, told the BBC that recognition would right a colonial-era wrong.

“The issue today is ending the denial of our existence that started 108 years ago, in 1917,” he said. “And I think today, the British people should celebrate a day when history is being corrected, when wrongs are being righted, when recognition of the wrongs of the past are beginning to be corrected.”

Diplomatic shift

The U.K. has for decades supported an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, but insisted recognition must come as part of a peace plan to achieve a two-state solution.

But the government has become increasingly worried that such a solution is becoming all but impossible — not only because of the razing of Gaza and displacement of most of its population during nearly two years of conflict, but because Israel’s government is aggressively expanding settlements in the West Bank, land Palestinians want for their future state.

Last week, independent experts commissioned by the U.N.’s Human Rights Council concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, a charge that Israel rejected as “distorted and false.”

Israel’s government in recent years has been aggressively expanding settlements in the West Bank. Much of the world regards Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, ostensibly governed by the Palestinian Authority, as illegal.

“This move has symbolic and historic weight, makes clear the U.K.’s concerns about the survival of a two-state solution, and is intended to keep that goal relevant and alive,” said Olivia O’Sullivan, director of the U.K. in the World Program at the London-based think tank Chatham House.

The creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel is seen internationally as the only realistic way to resolve the conflict for the long term.

Pylas writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Jill Lawless in London and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.