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<\/p>\n Email Link<\/p>\n \n Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday that his country will recognize a Palestinian state in September, joining a growing list of Western allies as international condemnation and anger builds<\/a> over Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza.\n <\/p>\n \n A formal recognition will be made at the United Nations General Assembly next month, where \u201cAustralia will recognize the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own predicated on the commitments Australia has received from the Palestinian Authority,\u201d Albanese said at a press conference.\n <\/p>\n \n On Monday, New Zealand\u2019s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said his country was also considering recognizing a Palestinian state, and would make a decision at a cabinet meeting in September.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cNew Zealand has been clear for some time that our recognition of a Palestinian state is a matter of when, not if,\u201d Peters said in a statement, echoing the language used by Australian officials in the weeks leading up to Monday\u2019s announcement.\n <\/p>\n \n Describing the situation in Gaza as an \u201cabsolute human catastrophe,\u201d New Zealand Prime Minister Chrisopher Luxon said in a press conference that it was \u201centirely appropriate that we take the time to actually make sure we weigh up our decision and work that through in a sensible way.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Australia joins the United Kingdom<\/a>, France and Canada<\/a> in announcing plans to recognize a Palestinian state in September. The move leaves the United States increasingly isolated from some of its closest allies in its defense of Israel\u2019s escalating military campaign that\u2019s decimated the besieged enclave after almost two years of war.\n <\/p>\n \n If Wellington also moves, it will mean that four of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network comprising the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, will recognize Palestinian statehood.\n <\/p>\n \n Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she\u2019d spoken to US Foreign Secretary Marco Rubio in a call Sunday to give him advance notice of Australia\u2019s impending announcement. A read-out of the call released by the US did not mention Palestinian statehood.\n <\/p>\n \n In an interview with Catholic broadcaster EWTN last week, Rubio said that declarations of support for a Palestinian state were \u201clargely symbolic\u201d and only \u201cemboldened Hamas and made it harder to achieve peace.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Albanese said Australia had sought and received assurances from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that Hamas would play no role in any future Palestinian state.\n <\/p>\n \n Other conditions include a commitment to demilitarize and to hold general elections, abolish a \u201csystem of payments to the families of prisoners and martyrs,\u201d and governance and education reform, as well as \u201cinternational oversight to guard against the incitement of violence and hatred,\u201d Albanese said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cA two-state solution is humanity\u2019s best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to bring an end to the conflict suffering and starvation in Gaza,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThis is about much more than drawing a line on a map. This is about delivering a lifeline to the people of Gaza.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \u2018This is starvation, pure and simple\u2019<\/p>\n \n Canada and France have both said they would recognize a Palestinian state in September, when world leaders meet in New York for the UN General Assembly. The UK has said that it will, too, if Israel does not meet conditions that include agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza.\n <\/p>\n \n On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a rare press conference with international media in which he called steps by Western nations to recognize Palestinian statehood \u201cshameful.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cTo have European countries and Australia march into that rabbit hole, just like that, fall right into it, and buy this canard is disappointing,\u201d Netanyahu said. \u201cBut it\u2019s not going to change our position. We will not commit national suicide to get a good op ed for two minutes.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Australian Foreign Minister Wong said, \u201cwe cannot keep doing the same thing, and hoping for a different outcome. We can\u2019t keep waiting for the end of a peace process that has ground to a halt.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Wong framed the decision as an \u201copportunity as a nation to contribute to momentum towards two states\u201d which she underscored was \u201cthe only prospect for peace.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Israel announced an expansion of its war in Gaza on Friday, with a planned military takeover<\/a> of Gaza City that is expected to involve the forced evacuation of up to a million people.\n <\/p>\n \n On Sunday, United Nations officials and UN Security Council member states condemned the plan, saying it would lead to \u201canother calamity\u201d and constitute \u201cfurther violations of international law.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Ramesh Rajasingham, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva said what is unfolding in Gaza \u201cis no longer a looming hunger crisis \u2013 this is starvation, pure and simple.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Last month, the UN-backed food security agency the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warned that<\/a> \u201cthe worst case scenario of famine\u201d was unfolding in Gaza, its starkest alert yet as starvation spreads.\n <\/p>\n \n Hunger-related deaths are rising in the enclave, especially among children, Rajasingham told the UN Security Council. Since October 2023, 98 children have died from severe acute malnutrition \u2014 37 since July 1 alone, he said, citing health authorities in Gaza.\n <\/p>\n \n Israel is facing growing global condemnation<\/a> over its conduct in Gaza, with large protests breaking out in major cities – including London <\/strong>and Australia\u2019s Sydney – as people demonstrate their horror and anger over starvation in the territory.\n <\/p>\n
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