Ethar Shalaby
BBC News Arabic

I have been speaking to people in Gaza, many of whom met the news from the UK today with joy.

Aida al-Safady, a 62-cancer patient, is one of those people.

“I am so happy," she tells me over the phone. "I feel this could be a new beginning for us as a country that could regain its sovereignty one day."

Her son-in-law, Abduallah Abu Rabie, also tells me that this is the news that he and many others in Gaza have been awaiting since the war started on 7 October.

Recognition will “hopefully put pressure on Israelis to stop the war in Gaza”, the 30-year-old says.

Other people in Gaza that I have spoken to - including 40-year-old Salama al-Awady - say this shows them the “British government is doing the right thing”.

He says: “I have to say that is a decision that is coming a bit late, but I would say better late than never."

But despite the positivity of the announcement, al-Awady says it won’t change anything on the ground.

“People are still starving and the fight is still on. Let’s wait and see if this will change in the coming days”.

Gabriela Pomeroy
Live reporter

Image source, Hiba Qawasmi

As the UK announced that it is now formally recognising a Palestinian state, we caught up with some Palestinians living in East Jerusalem to get their immediate reactions.

Hiba Qawasmi, a Palestinian teacher and activist living in the Beit Hanina neighbourhood, says “we are not fooled by this".

“Israel is still assassinating people and does what it wants,” she says.

"We are human beings who deserve to have our own land, and even if it's not the complete land, it's a positive step," she says.

She says the Western countries only recognise a Palestinian state “to feel good about themselves”.

“I will not forgive the world for staying silent” about the situation in Gaza, she adds.

"I don’t want to call it silly, but they just want to clean their images in front of the world."

Apart from the UK, a number of countries have said they will - or are considering - recognising a Palestinian state. Here’s a look at who’s on that list.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron earlier this year became the first G7 leader to say their country would officially recognise a Palestinian state.

Canada announced its recognition today, with Prime Minister Mark Carney, saying "Canada does so as part of a co-ordinated international effort to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution".

Australia also recognised a Palestinian state today, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying he's received restated commitments from the Palestinian Authority (PA) that it will continue to recognise Israel's right to exist.

Portugal is preparing to shift policy, announcing on Saturday that it will recognise a Palestinian state this weekend.

New Zealand has also been considering recognition, but PM Christopher Luxon has said the decision will not be disclosed until next week.

Around three quarters of the UN's 193 members already recognise a Palestinian state - take a look:

The two-state solution is an internationally backed formula for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

It proposes an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital. It would exist alongside Israel.

Israel rejects a two-state solution. It says any final settlement must be the result of negotiations with the Palestinians, and statehood should not be a precondition.

The Palestinian Authority - set up in the wake of peace agreements in the 1990s - backs a two-state solution but Hamas does not because it is opposed to the existence of Israel.

Hamas says that it could accept an interim Palestinian state based on 1967 de facto borders, without officially recognising Israel, if refugees were given the right to return.

Earlier efforts to settle the conflict saw Israel and Palestinian leaders sign a deal called the Oslo Peace Accords, in 1993. This was intended to provide a framework for peace talks. However, talks eventually collapsed with each side blaming the other.

UK hoping Israel realises a two-state solution is only way to achieve long-term peacepublished at 15:55 BST 21 September

15:55 BST 21 September

James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent

For years, successive British governments - both Conservative and Labour - have hoarded Palestinian recognition in their diplomatic coffers.

This was a great prize to be deployed only as peace beckoned in the Middle East, a negotiating tool to help lever a political settlement finally over the line. But that strategy now is history.

Instead, PM Keir Starmer is playing the recognition card for an utterly different purpose: to keep an idea alive - an idea that peace can come to the region only with a Palestinian state alongside an Israeli state.

That idea, western diplomats say, is now at risk of destruction at the hands of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, as more Israeli settlers fill the occupied territories, plans to divide the West Bank from East Jerusalem are agreed and calls for partial annexation grow among far-right politicians.

The hope among the newly recognising nations is that Israel and its allies realise that a two-state solution - however remote and difficult it may seem - is ultimately the only way to achieve peace in the long term.

If we don’t do this now, one diplomat said, there’ll be nothing left to recognise.

Domestic politics certainly played a role in this decisionpublished at 15:35 BST 21 September

15:35 BST 21 September

Harry Farley
Political correspondent

It would be disingenuous to pretend domestic politics, including pressure from within the Labour Party, was not a factor in this decision.

That’s the view of Foreign Office officials I’ve been speaking to in the last few days building up to this decision.

Recognition of a Palestinian state has long been a Labour manifesto promise.

But the prime minister has been criticised by many Labour activists, and particularly Muslim voters who had long backed Labour, for his stance on the war in Gaza.

In the eyes of many pro-Palestinian voters, Starmer’s original sin was in a 2023 LBC interview shortly after the 7 October Hamas attacks, when as leader of the opposition he appeared to say Israel had the "right" to cut off water and energy to Gaza.

Officials in Downing Street argue since they came to power Labour has made significant changes, like sanctioning some Israeli ministers, suspending some arms exports and now recognising a Palestinian state.

But party strategists say they are not getting credit in the polls for these changes and fear they have permanently lost voters for whom the situation in Gaza is a major concern.

In the build up to the announcement in July that set the UK on this path, cabinet ministers had been pressing for a change and more than half of Labour’s MPs had signed a letter calling for immediate recognition of a Palestinian state.

Read more analysis of why Starmer decided the time was right to recognise a Palestinian state.

Image source, PA Media

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has joined her Tory peers in criticising Starmer's decision to recognise a Palestinian state, calling it “absolutely disastrous”.

In a post on social media she writes: “We will all rue the day this decision was made. Rewarding terrorism with no conditions whatsoever put in place for Hamas.

"It leaves hostages languishing in Gaza and does nothing to stop the suffering of innocent people caught in this war.”

Jennifer McKiernan
Political reporter

Image source, PA Media

Some more political reaction now, this time from Ed Davey.

The Lib Dem leader was met with loud and sustained applause when he announced the news at his party's conference happening today in Bournemouth.

"Recognising the right of Palestinians to their self-determination has been long overdue," Davey says.

"It is a great step forward and something that Liberal Democrats have been campaigning for for almost a decade. But this is not the end of the road.

"The humanitarian catastrophe across Gaza and the West Bank continues to devastate lives - both for the hostages held in Hamas’ captivity and Palestinians suffering across the occupied territories," he says.

Image source, PA Media

We can now bring you some fresh reaction from the Conservatives, as their shadow foreign secretary has just issued a statement following the prime minister's recognition of a Palestinian state.

Dame Priti Patel accuses Starmer of "capitulating to the hard-left factions of his party" with his recent announcement.

“He lacks all moral authority as his insincere gesture on recognition is all about protecting his own position as leader of the Labour Party rather than securing peace and stability," she says.

Patel adds that while Hamas is still holding hostages in Gaza, the move sends a "dangerous message, where violence and extremism are tolerated and rewarded".

“His feeble last-minute attempts to appease the United States are shallow and will never justify his reckless decision on recognition," she adds.

What does this really mean?published at 15:03 BST 21 September

15:03 BST 21 September

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

Palestine is a state that does and does not exist.

It has a large degree of international recognition, diplomatic missions abroad and teams that compete in sporting competitions, including the Olympics.

But due to the Palestinians' long-running dispute with Israel, it has:

• No internationally agreed boundaries
• No capital
• And no army

Due to Israel's military occupation, in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority, set up in the wake of peace agreements in the 1990s, is not in full control of its land or people. Gaza, where Israel is also the occupying power, is in the midst of a devastating war.

Given its status as a kind of quasi-state, recognition is inevitably somewhat symbolic. It will represent a strong moral and political statement but change little on the ground.

But the symbolism is strong.

As former foreign secretary David Lammy pointed out during his speech at the UN last July, "Britain bears a special burden of responsibility to support the two-state solution".

• Read more about what recognising a Palestinian state means

Image source, Getty Images

Lucy Manning
Special correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Mandy Damari, the mother of former British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari, has said "Keir Starmer is under a two-state delusion" in response to his government's recognition of a Palestinian state.

"While one of the states is still run by a proscribed terrorist organisation whose very charter is to annihilate Israel from the river to the sea, a two-state solution can never happen," she told me.

"But even if he thinks he is right, he is rewarding Hamas for the 7th October barbaric and savage attack on Israel when the hostages are still not back, the war is not over and Hamas are still in power in Gaza."

Emily Damari was released from Hamas captivity after being held for more than 15 months after she was kidnapped from her home in southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

Israel's foreign ministry has said recognition of the Palestinian state is "nothing but a reward for jihadist Hamas - emboldened by its Muslim Brotherhood affiliated in the UK".

"Hamas leaders themselves openly admit: this recognition is a direct outcome, the 'fruit' for the 7 October massacre," its foreign ministry writes in a post on X.

• Canada became the first G7 nation to recognise a Palestinian state
• Australia swiftly followed, saying it was part of an "international effort for a two-state solution"
• A few minutes later, the UK's prime minister confirmed its recognition of a Palestinian state
• Keir Starmer said the move was needed to "revive the hope of peace and a two-state solution"
• He stressed that it was "not a reward for Hamas" as it means Hamas could have no future
• Starmer also called for the immediate release of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas, and asked the Israeli government to lift restrictions at Gaza's border to allow more aid to get through

Tom Bennett
Reporting from Ramallah

I’m here in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, a city nestled in the hills north of Jerusalem.

This is the Palestinians’ administrative capital and it’s here that many countries hold representative offices or diplomatic missions.

A short while ago, on a bustling street in the centre of town, there was cautious optimism here about the UK's recognition announcement.

“It’s wonderful,” says Mohammad Hasib, 30. “We hope that all European countries will follow and recognise our state so we can stop this war.”

“We Palestinians are more than what is happening to us,” he says, speaking of the war in Gaza.

Another woman adds: “It’s not too late, and it’s not pointless.”

But some here are worried that recognition will prompt Israel to crack down even further - with the government pressing ahead with plans for new settlements across the West Bank, and some ministers threatening annexation of parts of the territory.

In his closing remarks, Keir Starmer calls on countries to "channel our efforts" to bring about "the peaceful future that we want to see".

He ends his address by reiterating that this means releasing the remaining hostages held in Gaza by Hamas, ending the violence and suffering, and shifting back towards a two-state solution.

It's "the best hope for peace and security for all sides", he says.

We've now finished covering the prime minister's remarks, but we're continuing to get fresh reaction to this major policy change for the UK government - stick with us.

"Today we join over 150 countries who recognise a Palestinian state," Starmer continues as he says the move is "a pledge to the Palestinian and Israeli people that there can be a better future".

"I know the strength of feeling that this conflict provokes," the prime minister adds.

"We have seen it on our streets, in our schools and conversations we have had with friends and family. It has created division, some have used it to stoke hatred and fear but that solves nothing.

"Not only must we reject hate, we must redouble our efforts to combat hatred in all its forms."

While announcing the UK's recognition of a Palestinian state, the prime minister goes on to say the manmade crisis in Gaza has reached new depths.

“The starvation and devastation are utterly intolerable."

Tens of thousands have been killed, he says, including people as they collect food and water.

"This death and destruction horrifies all of us," he says.

Some sick and injured children have been evacuated, he says, and we have increased humanitarian aid support - but "nowhere near enough aid is getting through".

We call on the Israeli government to lift the restrictions at the border. "Stop these cruel tactics and let the aid surge in," he says.

Israel has previously denied that there are restrictions on aid.

We're continuing to bring you key lines from the PM's announcement.

Starmer says that he has met British families of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and sees "the torture they endure each and every day" and pain that strikes deep in the hearts of people in Israel and the UK.

The hostages must be released immediately, says Starmer, adding that "we will keep fighting to bring them home".

"Our call for a genuine two-state solution is the exact opposite of [Hamas's] hateful vision," he adds.

"This solution is not a reward for Hamas," he adds, because it means Hamas can have no future, no role in government, and no role in security.

At the start of the video posted on social media, Starmer says: "In the face of the growing horror in the Middle East, we are acting to keep alive the possibility of peace and of a two-state solution.

"That means a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable Palestinian state - at the moment we have neither."

He then goes onto say the moment for recognising Palestinian statehood "has now arrived".

"So, 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 recognises the state of Palestine."

Image source, X

Keir Starmer has announced the UK's recognition of a Palestinian state.

"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 recognises the state of Palestine," he says in a video statement.

We'll bring you more from the statement shortly, stick with us.