Image source, EPA

As he left for the UN General Assembly in New York, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that "a negotiated two-state solution is the path that can allow Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace, security and dignity".

"For Germany, recognition of a Palestinian state comes more at the end of the process. But this process must begin now," he said.

Image source, Reuters

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot says today is "a great day for peace" as his country prepares to formally recognise Palestinian statehood later this afternoon.

The move is a "major diplomatic victory for France", he tells France's TF1 broadcaster.

"The decision that the president will present this afternoon to the United Nations General Assembly is a symbolic, immediate, political decision, which shows France's commitment to the two-state solution," he adds.

Asked if the decision posed a danger to Israel, he says: "This is an absolute contradiction, since recognising Palestine is a categorical disavowal of Hamas, and it permanently isolates it. And it vindicates those among the Palestinians who have chosen to renounce violence and terrorism."

French President Emmanuel Macron has said "recognising the Palestinian state today is the only way to provide a political solution to a situation which has to stop".

As we've been reporting, France is expected to recognise a Palestinian state at a UN conference later today.

He tells the BBC's US partner CBS News that recognition is the beginning of a political process, adding that right afterwards he expects a ceasefire, the release of all hostages and restoring humanitarian aid reaching Gaza.

Macron also says his call for the recognition of a Palestinian state, and his objections to the ongoing war in Gaza, are not antisemitic.

In the interview, Macron also said it was out of line for the US Ambassador to France, Charles Kushner - whose son is married to US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka - to publicly accuse him of not doing enough to tackle antisemitism in France.

Back in August, Kushner also said that France's foreign policy stance were linked to domestic incidents of violence against Jewish people in France. France summoned Kushner due to his "unacceptable" allegations.

The UK, Australia, Canada and Portugal officially recognised a Palestinian state on Sunday.

At the UN conference co-hosted by French President Macron and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman later today, more countries are expected to formally recognise Palestinian statehood.

On Friday, an adviser to President Macron said these countries would be:

• France
• Belgium
• Luxembourg
• Andorra
• San Marino
• Malta

More than three quarters of the UN's 193 members already recognise a Palestinian state. Those who don't include the US, Israel, Italy and Germany.

New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said they are considering it but that decision will not be disclosed until this week.

Sebastian Usher
Middle East analyst

Image source, Reuters

There are many divisions among Israeli politicians over the policies and strategy of the Netanyahu government, but there seems to be consensus over rejecting any current recognition of Palestinian statehood.

Yair Golan has been one of the most outspoken critics of the government's war against Hamas in Gaza, but he has described "talking about a Palestinian state" as "destructive".

And the main opposition leader, Yair Lapid, condemned the announcements by the UK, Canada and Australia as a "diplomatic disaster".

Other opposition figures echoed the government's line that it is a "reward for terror".

The unanimity across the political divide in Israel illustrates yet again how far there is to go to getting anywhere near the two-state solution, which so much of the international community still champions.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper says Israel must not annex parts of the West Bank in retaliation for the UK's recognition of Palestinian statehood.

She was speaking to the BBC ahead of attending today's UN conference in New York, where France and other European nations are due to make a similar announcement.

Asked if she was concerned Israel would take this declaration as a pretext for annexing parts of the West Bank, Cooper says she has made it clear to her Israeli counterpart that he and his government must not do that.

• For context: Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right allies have been pushing for formal annexation, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently outlining a plan to annex 82% of West Bank, with the remaining Palestinian enclaves cut off from each other

She says: "We have been clear that this decision that we are taking is about the best way to respect the security for Israel as well as the security for Palestinians.

"It's about protecting peace and justice and crucially security for the Middle East and we will continue to work with everyone across the region in order to be able to do that."

• Read more from the foreign secretary's interview with the BBC

Four nations - the UK, Canada, Australia and Portugal - formally recognised a Palestinian state yesterday.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said this recognition, which marks a significant change in policy, would "revive the hope of peace and a two-state solution".

The move has sparked fierce criticism from Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, who yesterday said a Palestinian state "will not happen".

His remarks come amid a rising number of UN nations formally recognising a Palestinian state, with more set to follow at a conference later today.

Some have raised questions about what difference these announcements will make to the conditions on the ground in Gaza, where tens of thousands have been killed and more than one million displaced by Israel's military offensive.

In the occupied West Bank, some Palestinians have expressed hope, while in Gaza some have said they don't think things will change.

Foreign Office minister for the Middle East Hamish Falconer says the reason the UK has recognised a Palestinian state is to make sure that what happened on 7 October and the "horrors" in Gaza that followed are never repeated.

He tells the BBC Radio 4's Today programme that a moderate Palestinian government is needed and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has already committed to a demilitarised state.

This would leave Hamas having "no role in the future of Gaza”. He adds that in July, all the members of the Arab League committed to Hamas having no role in Gaza.

As a former hostage negotiator, he says he knows the anguish of the hostages’ families, but that this is the “best route to peace, the best route to a ceasefire, and the best route to the release of all the hostages”.

Image source, Getty Images

More countries, including France and Belgium, are expected to recognise a Palestinian state at a UN conference later today, following yesterday’s announcements from the UK, Canada and Australia.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron is co-hosting the conference with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in New York this afternoon. The focus will be on advancing a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

Israel, and its closest ally the US, will be notably absent. Both are among a shrinking minority of UN members who do not recognise a Palestinian state, and they have condemned yesterday's announcements.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to attend the conference virtually, after the US blocked him and 80 other Palestinian officials from travelling to the UN this year by denying their visas.

The move comes one day before world leaders convene for the official start of the UN General Assembly's 80th annual meeting.

As it stands, more than three quarters of the UN's 193 members already recognise a Palestinian state.

Stay with us for updates from today’s conference, which gets underway at 15:00 local time (20:00 BST).

This eleventh hour decision may be symbolic - but symbols matter in diplomacypublished at 18:59 BST 21 September

18:59 BST 21 September

Lyse Doucet
Chief international correspondent

Britain, Canada and Australia have jumped on what may be the last train to a Palestinian state.

But their train is very late.

And their recognition has arrived at a moment when it has never seemed so out of reach.

Its expected territory is now disappearing at a faster pace than ever before. Gaza has been all but razed to the ground, as calls intensify from Israeli ministers to push the Palestinians out to redevelop this "real estate".

The occupied West Bank is now all but formally annexed. Israel is now threatening to make that official and Jewish settlements are expanding at an unprecedented pace.

And Palestinian leadership has been weakened, by Israel, and from within.

Still, even at this eleventh hour, this move by three more Western governments sends an important signal.

Symbols matter in diplomacy and they matter to Palestinians - even if this recognition comes decades after a majority of the world’s countries took a stand.

Moves by Western countries seen as some of Israel’s closest allies - including Spain, Norway, Ireland, and Slovenia last year - may be a last stand against overwhelming odds. But they had to do, and be seen to do, something.

Image source, X

We've had several countries - the UK, Canada and Australia - all formally recognise a Palestinian state today.

More countries, as we explained earlier, are expected to follow suit this week when leaders gather at the UN General Assembly in New York.

We're soon going to pause our live coverage, but here's what else you need to know:

• UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said recognition of a Palestinian state was needed to "revive the hope of peace and a two-state solution" - but stressed that this was not a reward for Hamas
• Reacting to the announcements, Netanyahu accused the leaders of the UK, Canada and Australia of "giving a huge reward to terrorism" - he added that "there will be no Palestinian state"
• In domestic politics, the move has been welcomed by some politicians - Lib Dem leader Ed Davey called it a "great step forward", while the Green Party said it was "important" but had arrived too late
• The opposition offered a much fiercer criticism, with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch saying Starmer's position is "absolutely disastrous" and will leave "hostages languishing in Gaza"
• In the occupied West Bank, some Palestinians have expressed hope, while those in Gaza say they don't think things on the ground will change
• Meanwhile, some families of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have strongly opposed the UK's decision, saying the move has "dramatically complicated efforts to bring home our loved ones"

Tom Bennett
Reporting from Ramallah

When Keir Starmer announced his intentions to recognise Palestinian statehood back in July, he also said the UK would only do so unless Israel met five conditions:

• Take substantive steps to end the “appalling” situation in Gaza
• Allow the UN to restart the supply of aid
• Agree to a ceasefire
• Rule out annexation of the West Bank
• Commit to a long-term peace process that revives the prospect of a two-state solution

Since then, Israel has launched an offensive on Gaza City, while a UN-backed body has declared famine there - with UN agencies saying Israel was systematically obstructing aid.

It has also attempted to assassinate Hamas’s leadership as they discussed a ceasefire proposal in Doha, ending hopes of an imminent truce.

At the same time, the Israeli government has given final approval to the controversial E1 settlement project - which would effectively split the West Bank in two, dividing the Palestinian populations in its north and south - and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has floated a proposal to annex around 82% of the territory.

And then last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared: "We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state. This place belongs to us."

On every front, Netanyahu's government appears to have moved further away from Starmer’s conditions.

Image source, Reuters

Will this ease political pressure on Starmer?published at 18:29 BST 21 September

18:29 BST 21 September

Harry Farley
Political correspondent

One of the factors behind this decision was the domestic political pressure on Keir Starmer to act.

The Green Party, which has attracted some voters who - angered by the pictures from Gaza - want the prime minister to take a firmer stance to Israel, has now called for an end to arms sales to Israel., external

But that's not just a call Labour's political opponents are making. Already some Labour MPs - not on the hard-left of the party typically hostile to Starmer - have argued the same.

Dr Simon Opher, a Labour MP blocked by Israel from entering the country this week, said the government had tried to use the threat of recognition as leverage to achieve a ceasefire but it had not worked.

"Now we have to very categorically opt out of any arms deals with Israel, stop any cooperation, and we need to think about proper trade sanctions," he tells me, adding that would be "the next logical step".

Other Labour MPs fear the move panders to the party's left, and has not achieved anything.

"It feeds into the narrative that the government cares more about Palestinian flags than Union flags," another Labour MP says. "It gives the impression we care more about borders in the Middle East than the borders at Dover."

Hamas, which the UK and many other nations have designated as a terrorist organisation, has welcomed the news that the UK, Canada and Australia have all formally recognised a Palestinian state.

In a statement, the armed group and political movement in Gaza says: "This recognition is an important step in affirming the right of our Palestinian people to their land and holy sites, and to establish their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital."

But it adds that the move "must be accompanied by practical measures" that would lead to an "immediate end" to the war in Gaza and "confront" settlement plans in the West Bank.

It also calls on the international community and the UN to "cease all forms of co-operation and co-ordination" with Israel.

A reminder: When announcing the UK's plans to recognise a Palestinian state earlier, Keir Starmer stressed that his decision was not a reward for Hamas and that his call for a two-state solution was "the exact opposite of their hateful vision".

Rushdi Abualouf
Gaza correspondent, reporting from Istanbul

Palestinian activists have voiced sadness over the decision by the UK, Canada and Australia to recognise the Palestinian state, as Israel presses ahead with its military operation in Gaza City and signals plans to annex parts of the West Bank.

• Imad al-Maghrebi from Gaza, who currently lives in Istanbul, describes the move as "a historic moment, but it has come far too late" - adding: "In reality, nothing remains of Palestine except its people and they too are facing genocide Israel has destroyed any possibility of establishing an independent, sovereign state."
• Alaa Saleh, a father of six who fled from northern Gaza to the south, tells me: "These countries must put pressure on Israel to end the war. Recognition is important and positive, but it will be meaningless without stopping the fighting."
• Hiyam Hassan, a Palestinian activist on Facebook, is more scathing. She argues that the recognition "carries no real value at this moment, when a rogue state is devouring vast areas of the promised land and, through its expansionist practices, undermining the very foundations of a Palestinian state before it is even born".

She adds that the step brings no real benefit to Palestinians themselves, who in her view "should reconsider their position on the two-state solution after all that has happened and after all the violations committed by Israel since the Oslo Accords".

Hassan says the recognition mainly serves the governments that issued it "to appease their own people who have taken to the streets en masse to oppose the genocide in Gaza".

"What is puzzling,” she concludes, "is that many including Palestinians under the threat of extermination are celebrating this recognition, which merely masks governments’ failure and inability once again to confront the ongoing genocide".

Tom Bennett
Reporting from Ramallah

Reaction from other political figures inside Israel has been a mix of anger and disappointment.

Two of the most hardline figures in Netanyahu's government, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have responded by calling for Israel to assert “sovereignty” over the West Bank.

The pair, who are both ultranationalists who live in West Bank settlements, have previously been sanctioned by the UK for inciting violence against Palestinians.

On the other side of Israel’s parliament, opposition leader Yair Lapid says the UK and others have made “a bad step” but lays the blame with Netanyahu, saying “a functioning Israeli government could have prevented this”.

“The government that brought upon us the terrible security disaster in our history is now bringing upon us also the most severe diplomatic crisis ever,” he wrote on X.

Yair Golan, leader of the Democrats party, said: "Unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state is a grave political failure by Netanyahu and Smotrich, and a destructive move for Israel's security."

Image source, Reuters

Some more now from Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's video statement, in which he directly addresses the UK, Canada and Australia after they each formally recognised a Palestinian state earlier today.

"I have a clear message to those leaders who recognise a Palestinian state after the terrible massacre on October 7 - you are giving a huge reward to terrorism," he says.

"And I have another message for you - it will not happen. A Palestinian state will not be established west of the Jordan River."

Netanyahu says that "for years" he has prevented the establishment of "this terrorist state" in the face of pressure.

"Indeed, we doubled Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria - and we will continue on this path," he adds.

The Israeli leader also says a "response to the latest attempt to impose a terrorist state on us in the heart of our country" will be given after he returns from the US, where he will attend the UN General Assembly in New York this week.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has reacted to the UK, Canada and Australia formally recognising a Palestinian state.

"There will be no Palestinian state," he says in a video statement released on social media.

We'll bring you more from the statement shortly.

Gabriela Pomeroy
Live reporter

We're continuing to hear reactions from Palestinians and Israel in the wake of the UK, Canada and Australia all formally recognising a Palestinian state.

For Haim Shalom, a rabbi and teacher living in Jerusalem, he says the move can only be viewed as a “victory for Hamas”.

The UK recognition “has only come about because of the actions of Hamas on 7 October - it is 100% a reward for terrorism".

He says that he believes that “most Israelis don’t object to the idea of a Palestinian state living in peace alongside Israel” - “they just don’t believe that it will or can happen at the moment".

Haim says he personally wants to see a Palestinian state. He thinks Israelis “need to make sacrifices, there needs to be dismantling of settlements, and we have to share Jerusalem in some way”.

Image source, Haim Shalom

Gabriela Pomeroy
Live reporter

Image source, Adam Ma'anit

We've recently received a statement from Adam Ma’anit, whose cousin Tsachi Idan was held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

Idan was one of four dead Israeli hostages whose bodies were handed over by Hamas in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners back in February.

Reacting to Keir Starmer's announcement from a few hours ago, he tells me it feels like "nothing less than a betrayal" of the hostages and their families.

"Instead of using Britain’s influence to force Hamas to release the 48 hostages... it rewards Hamas with exactly what they call the ‘fruits of October 7’."

For context: There are 48 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza, 20 of whom are thought to be alive.

Another relative, the brother-in-law of one of the Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza, also condemns the move.

The UK has given Hamas "the greatest prize – an unconditional recognition of statehood", Moshe Emilio Lavi tells me.

The recognition comes while the Israeli hostages "are being starved, tortured, and used as human shields" in Gaza, Lavi says.