Britain, Canada and Australia formally recognized a Palestinian state on Sunday, a move seen as both a rebuke of Israel’s continued assault on Gaza and an attempt to pressure it into accepting a two-state solution. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said his decision to join nearly 150 other nations in recognizing Palestinian statehood was made “to keep alive the possibility of peace and a two-state solution.”[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]“With the actions of Hamas, the Israeli government escalating the conflict, and settlement building being accelerated in the West Bank, the hope of a two-state solution is fading. But we cannot let that light go out,” Starmer said in a video statement on Sunday. Read more: Which countries have recognized a Palestinian state?The coordinated action by the three countries comes ahead of the United Nations General Assembly this week, where France and Portugal are also expected to recognize the State of Palestine. The largely symbolic move puts the countries at odds with the Trump Administration, which has stood firm beside its close ally Israel and opposed any move towards Palestinian statehood. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is set to address the General Assembly this week before meeting with Trump, called the decision a “prize” for Hamas.“It will not happen,” he said. “A Palestinian state will not be established west of the Jordan River.”Starmer had announced his intention to recognize a Palestinian state in late July, but said he would defer if Israel took steps to address the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, agreed to a ceasefire with Hamas, and pursued peace that allowed Palestinians their own state. Since then, Israel has launched a ground offensive in famine-hit Gaza City that has displaced some 400,000 people, and the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry has determined that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza. These acts include “killing Palestinians, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinians, and imposing measures intended to prevent births,” according to the Commission.Israel has strongly rejected the report’s findings and called for the Commission to be abolished.“Israel categorically rejects this distorted and false report and calls for the immediate abolition of this Commission of Inquiry,” said the Israeli Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, claiming that those who published the report are “Hamas proxies.”The United Kingdom’s recognition holds particular resonance due to its prominent role in the foundation of Israel. The UK became the governing colonial power of what was then Palestine following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. It later penned the Balfour Declaration, which backed the establishment of “a national home for the Jewish people.”Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also announced his country’s recognition on Sunday. “Canada recognises the State of Palestine and offers our partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future for both the State of Palestine and the State of Israel,” he said. Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin welcomed the announcements.“It is a move bringing us closer to sovereignty and independence. It might not end the war tomorrow, but it’s a move forward, which we need to build on and amplify,” she said.The international community has long called for negotiations to solve the Israel-Palestine conflict based on a two-state solution. Previous negotiations have set the basis for a Palestinian state as the borders that existed before the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, defined in U.N. Resolution 242. Those borders would grant a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital. But the prospect of two states has dimmed after years of illegal Israeli settlement construction on Palestinian land in the West Bank. Now, some 90% of Gaza’s population has been displaced and much of the territory has been made unlivable by widespread Israeli bombing. The Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7 has only hardened Israeli positions towards the two-state solution. Israel’s foreign ministry called the move by the three countries “nothing but a reward for jihadist Hamas”.“This declaration does not promote peace, but on the contrary – further destabilizes the region and undermines the chances of achieving a peaceful solution in the future,” it added in a post on X.