Skip to main content
Donate to the 95 years appeal
UN experts call on all nations to recognise a Palestinian state
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed by Israel’s bombardment of a residential building in Bureij refugee camp, at al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, June 3, 2024

ALL countries should recognise Palestinian statehood to ensure peace, a group of United Nations experts said today.

The independent authorities on human rights urged all countries to join the 146 nations that already recognise the state of Palestine and to use all political and diplomatic resources to help bring about an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

They said the recognition was an important acknowledgement of the rights of the Palestinian people and “a precondition for lasting peace in Palestine and the entire Middle East.” 

“A two-state solution remains the only internationally agreed path to peace and security for both Palestine and Israel and a way out of generational cycles of violence and resentment,” the experts added.

The call came less than a week after Spain, Ireland and Norway officially recognised Palestine as a state.

Israel has repeatedly condemned moves to recognise Palestinian statehood, asserting that they bolster Hamas, the Islamist group whose deadly October 7 attack on southern Israel sparked the current Israeli offensive in Gaza.

The conflict has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry — about 30 times more than the 1,200 death toll of the October 7 attack, in which more than 250 hostages were also taken.

But a ceasefire in the fighting still seems a long way off, with Israel insisting that Hamas has no place in a future Gaza. 

Far-right Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu has called for the complete destruction of Hamas and the occupation of the Palestinian enclave: “Only one way to victory: the destruction of Hamas and the occupation of the Gaza Strip.” 

Mr Eliyahu argued against last year’s ceasefire deal with Hamas, which led to hundreds of Palestinian prisoners being exchanged for dozens of Israeli captives held in Gaza.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Sunday that Israel was looking into establishing a new administration for Gaza.

Mr Gallant, a member of Israel’s three-person war cabinet who recently urged the government to create a detailed post-war plan for the devastated coastal territory, told a briefing that “we seek a governing alternative to Hamas.”

He insisted that Israel “will not accept the rule of Hamas at any stage in any process aimed at ending the war.”

Mr Gallant’s comments came at a time of new uncertainty in the eight-month war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under growing pressure from many Israelis to accept a new ceasefire deal proposed by US President Joe Biden, while his far-right allies are threatening to bring down the government if he does.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
World leaders partake in the 17th annual BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, July 6, 2025
BRICS / 7 July 2025
7 July 2025
Ambulance workers on the picket line outside London Ambulance Service (LAS) in Deptford, south-east London, February 10, 2023
Features / 26 June 2025
26 June 2025

I found myself alone as the sole reporter at Britain’s largest union conference, leaving stories of modern-day slavery and sexual exploitation going unreported: our socialist journalism is just as vital as the union work we cover, writes ROGER McKENZIE

Similar stories
An Israeli army APC moves in the Gaza Strip as seen from sou
World / 16 January 2025
16 January 2025
While Israel stalls on ceasefire agreement, its military kills another 78 people in Gaza
A boy looks at the bodies of Palestinians killed in the Isra
World / 15 January 2025
15 January 2025
A girl watches as Mohammad Eid mourns his cousin Dima, along
World / 12 January 2025
12 January 2025
Meanwhile, Netanyahu sends spy chief to Qatar for ceasefire talks
Israeli soldiers move next to buildings destroyed by the Isr
World / 16 September 2024
16 September 2024