PinnedUpdated Sept. 22, 2025, 6:11 p.m. ETFrance and three other nations became the latest countries to formally recognize Palestinian statehood on Monday, declaring at the annual gathering of the United Nations General Assembly in New York that such a path was the only one to a peaceful future for Israel.Declaring that “the time has come,” President Emmanuel Macron of France said, “A solution exists to break the cycle of war and destruction.” He spoke at the start of a conference on Palestinian statehood, where his nation joined roughly 150 others that already made similar, though highly symbolic, announcements. “It is the recognition of the other — of their legitimacy, their humanity and their dignity,” Mr. Macron added.The announcements by France, Luxembourg, Malta and Andorra on Monday came a day after Australia, Britain, Canada and Portugal made their own endorsements of Palestinian statehood, an effort to help salvage the prospect of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But that is looking as distant as ever as the Gaza war nears the end of its second year, Israel rapidly expands its settlements in the West Bank, and the humanitarian crisis in the enclave grows more dire.The Palestinian Authority’s president, Mahmoud Abbas, addressing the conference by video after the Trump administration refused to grant him and other Palestinian officials visas, called for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and for Hamas to disarm. The Palestinian Authority was prepared to oversee a unified Palestine without the participation of Hamas, he said.“What we want is a state with one law and one legitimate security force,” he said from his headquarters in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.António Guterres, the U.N. secretary general, told the conference that statehood for Palestine was a right, not a reward, and that there was no other alternative. “Denying statehood would be a gift to extremists everywhere,” he said. “Without two states, there will be no peace in the Middle East, and radicalism will spread around.”Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, said on Monday his country was on board but wouldn’t “legally recognize” the state until Hamas releases the Israeli hostages and is removed from Gaza.The parade of recognitions or statements of support is unlikely to change the reality on the ground. And recognitions of Palestinian statehood move will not elevate it to full membership, a change that would have to be approved by the U.N. Security Council, where the United States would most likely veto it.But diplomats from Europe, the Middle East and Asia have said that the conference will showcase the alignment of a majority of the international community and the isolation of the United States on the issue as several of its key Western allies diverge from Washington’s policy.“I think it does underline that there is still some potential pathway to a diplomatic solution for the Palestinians, even if everyone recognizes that it is an extremely long pathway,” said Richard Gowan, the U.N. director for the International Crisis Group.The United States and Israel argue that recognizing a Palestinian state will embolden Hamas at a time when Israel is still at war with the militant group in Gaza and not all hostages captured during the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, have been released.Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, criticized the initiative as “one-sided,” saying: “This is not diplomacy. It is theater.”Ahead of the conference, the General Assembly ratified with an overwhelming majority — 142 votes in favor — the “New York Declaration,” a document put forward by France and Saudi Arabia that calls for the creation of a Palestinian state next to the existing Israeli one.The declaration sets out “tangible, time-bound and irreversible steps” toward a two-state solution. It also condemns the Hamas-led attacks in 2023 that started the war in Gaza, as well as Israel’s assaults on civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Palestinian enclave and the humanitarian crisis there.Here’s what else to know about the conference.White House response: Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said on Monday that President Trump disagreed with other leaders’ decisions to recognize Palestine’s statehood, calling it “just more talk and not enough action from some of our friends and allies.” She said Mr. Trump did not believe recognition did anything to release the hostages held in Gaza. “Frankly, he believes it’s a reward to Hamas,” she said.Trump at the U.N.: Mr. Trump was set to attend the General Assembly on Tuesday, when. Ms. Leavitt said, he would deliver “a major speech touting the renewal of American strength around the world.” She also said, “The president will also touch upon how global institutions have significantly decayed the world order.”A new approach to peace: Many diplomats said that the way the world has sought to broker peace for decades — by saving the establishment of a Palestinian state for the last stages of negotiations in a comprehensive deal between Israel and Palestinians — had failed. The conference aims to turn that notion on its head, by starting with recognition of a Palestinian state and working from there to achieve peace.Sept. 22, 2025, 6:26 p.m. ETOhad Ben Ami, center, was held hostage in Gaza by Hamas until earlier this year. He and other demonstrators gathered outside the Israeli prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem on Monday calling for the release of the rest of the hostages.Credit...Ohad Zwigenberg/Associated PressOn the eve of the Jewish new year, shortly before world leaders gathered on Monday at the United Nations for a conference on the recognition of Palestinian statehood, Hamas released a video of an Israeli hostage being held in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023.The video showed Alon Ohel, a pianist who had been attending the Nova music festival when he was kidnapped from Israel during the Hamas-led attack that set off the war in Gaza, which is nearing its two-year mark. There are about 20 living hostages being held in Gaza, according to Israeli estimates, and the remains of about 30 others are believed to be in the enclave.Idit and Kobi Ohel, Mr. Ohel’s parents, said in a statement that their family was “shaken and in pain” after the video’s release. “It’s evident that Alon is losing vision in his right eye, and he appears thin and distressed,” they said.Mr. Ohel’s mother told reporters in February that she had learned from military sources who had spoken with other released hostages that her son was receiving very little food and no medical care for multiple injuries, including an eye injury that has left him partly blind. He had been held bound for much of the time and was tortured, she said she had learned from Israeli military officials.“It was not easy to hear,” Ms. Ohel said at the time. “I must say that I even fainted.”Rights groups and international law experts say that hostage videos are, by definition, made under duress, that the statements in them are usually coerced and that making them can constitute a war crime. Israeli officials have called the videos a form of “psychological warfare.” Mr. Ohel’s parents, in their statement on Monday, said the Hamas video constituted “psychological terror,” asking the news media not to show it.The latest Hamas hostage video came as a wave of nations — including Australia, Britain, Belgium, Canada and France — are recognizing a Palestinian nation in what they say is an effort to salvage a two-state solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.President Emmanuel Macron of France, one of the sponsors of the statehood conference on Monday, along with Saudi Arabia’s leadership, tied recognition to the plight of the hostages in an address at the United Nations.“We must now set in motion a cycle of peace that meets the needs of all parties,” he said. “The top priority,” he said, was to ensure the release of hostages being held by militants in Gaza and end the Israeli military’s operations in the enclave.Israeli leaders and President Trump have said that recognition of statehood amounts to a reward for Hamas’s attack and subsequent actions, including taking and holding the captives. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in a briefing on Monday that Mr. Trump “has been very clear” that he disagreed with the moves. “He feels this does not do anything to release the hostages, which is the primary goal right now in Gaza,” Ms. Leavitt said.Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, who on Monday dismissed the conference on Palestinian statehood as “theater,” similarly criticized the decisions to act unilaterally by nations that have been longtime allies of Israel. He said that a two-state solution to the conflict had been a matter of debate in Israel before the war in Gaza began, but that “after Oct. 7, it’s off the table.”Mr. Danon said that Israel was focused on the release of its hostages and the defeat of Hamas in Gaza.But in Israel, some families and relatives of the captives and their supporters, demonstrated in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, calling for a cease-fire that would bring their loved ones home as the Palestinian statehood conference was taking place in New York and as the Jewish holiday was approaching.“On the eve of Rosh Hashana, during these days of repentance, the fate of young Jewish lives — Israeli citizens — now rests in the hands of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet,” they said in their statement. “Do not break the heart of the people of Israel. The most important national message right now is bringing Alon and all the hostages home to their families.”Sept. 22, 2025, 6:14 p.m. ETMany people were wondering whether Japan would formally recognize Palestine today. The answer is no. But the country’s foreign minister, Takeshi Iwaya, told those gathered at the United Nations that the declaration was imminent. It was “not a matter of if, but when,” he said.Sept. 22, 2025, 6:06 p.m. ETBritain’s foreign affairs secretary, Yvette Cooper, echoed her prime minister’s pronouncement from Sunday recognizing Palestinian statehood. “For my decades, my country supported the two state solution, but only recognized one state,” she told the room. “That changes now.”VideoCreditCredit...UNTV, via ReutersSept. 22, 2025, 5:54 p.m. ETHere at the United Nations headquarters, one world leader after another is denouncing the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza, the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the terrorist attack led by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. One after another is calling for a state of Palestine to be built beside the state of Israel. The Irish prime minister said his own country’s long war with Northern Ireland taught the lesson that “even in the darkest days, the duty of leaders is to keep the flame of hope alive and to keep talking.” His country recognized the state of Palestine last year.Sept. 22, 2025, 5:51 p.m. ETLuc Frieden, Luxemburg’s prime minister, declared that his country “formally recognizes the state of Palestine.”Sept. 22, 2025, 5:43 p.m. ETPresident Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain at a joint news conference on Thursday.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesWith Australia, Britain and Canada having just recognized Palestine as a state and France set to do so Monday at the U.N. General Assembly, the Trump administration has found itself standing in opposition to some of America’s closest allies.President Trump has opposed recognizing a Palestinian state, arguing that such an action would reward Hamas and harm efforts to reach a peace agreement with Israel. But he has oscillated between threatening punishments for allies over their stance and taking a softer approach.Appearing with Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain last week outside the British leader’s country residence, Mr. Trump described the issue of Palestinian statehood as “one of our few disagreements.”“I have a disagreement with the prime minister on that score,” Mr. Trump said, while emphasizing the friendship between the two men.In July, Mr. Trump said he didn’t “mind” Mr. Starmer’s taking a position on Palestinian statehood, saying his own focus in the Israel-Hamas conflict was on “getting people fed” in Gaza as the area has a starvation crisis.The president took a different approach when dealing with Canada, which he has threatened repeatedly over a variety of issues. Mr. Trump suggested in July he would refuse to make a trade deal with America’s neighbor over its stance on Palestine.“Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine,” he wrote in a Truth Social post. “That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them. Oh’ Canada!!!”During Mr. Trump’s first term, his administration began to move away from decades of U.S. policy explicitly supporting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Though his administration proposed a peace plan that would have, on paper, offered Palestinians a state, that plan would have given Israel most of what it had sought over decades of conflict. And Mr. Trump took other actions, including giving a green light to Israel’s settlements and expansion in the West Bank, which critics said would undermine the possibility of a two-state solution.That stance has hardened in Mr. Trump’s second term. Others members of his administration, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have been vocal about the administration’s opposition to Palestinian statehood.Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in July that Mr. Trump had “expressed his displeasure and his disagreement with the leaders of France, the United Kingdom and Canada.” She added, “He feels as though that’s rewarding Hamas at a time where Hamas is the true impediment to a cease-fire and to the release of all of the hostages.”Still, the statehood effort has appeared to pick up steam.A group of Democratic senators on Thursday introduced legislation calling on the president to recognize a demilitarized Palestinian state, the first such measure to be proposed in the Senate.Mr. Rubio said this month that recognizing a Palestinian state would be “counterproductive.”“We actually think it’s undermined negotiations because it emboldened Hamas, and we think it undermines future prospects of peace in the region,” he told reporters.Sept. 22, 2025, 5:40 p.m. ETDozens of demonstrators rallied at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, near the United Nations headquarters, on Monday afternoon to denounce what they called simultaneous genocides in Gaza and in Sudan. As speakers addressed the crowd through an electric bullhorn, two people waved large Palestinian flags. Two more held up signs that read “Don’t Let Israel Make You Complicit in Genocide” and “Stop Genocide in Sudan.” Though the blocks around the U.N. were heavily guarded — Coast Guard boats armed with machine guns cruised in the East River — there was only a small police presence at the demonstration.Credit...Nate Schweber for The New York TimesSept. 22, 2025, 5:35 p.m. ETPrime Minister Bart De Wever of Belgium said his country was joining the movement started by France and Saudi Arabia. But he said Belgium wouldn’t “legally recognize” the state of Palestine until Hamas releases the Israeli hostages and is removed from Palestine. “The two-state solution is not dead,” he said. “It is bruised, but it can be revived for the sake of all peoples.”VideoSept. 22, 2025, 5:20 p.m. ET“Canada recognizes the state of Palestine, and we offer our full partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future for both the state of Palestine and the state of Israel,” declared Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada to applause in the grand chamber.VideoSept. 22, 2025, 4:51 p.m. ETVideoPalestinians React to International Recognition of StatehoodPalestinians in Gaza City and other parts of Gaza shared mixed views after several Western countries confirmed on Sunday that they formally recognize Palestinian statehood.CreditCredit...Saher Alghorra for The New York TimesPalestinians in the occupied West Bank welcomed the wave of international declarations recognizing Palestinian statehood, saying the move reaffirmed their claims and aspirations. But many were also skeptical that it would translate into concrete change.Some said the moves were evidence that international momentum was shifting, lending legitimacy to the Palestinian cause and giving their leaders added diplomatic leverage.They spoke before Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, addressed a United Nations conference on Palestine via video on Monday after the United States blocked U.S. visas for Mr. Abbas and his staff, preventing them from traveling to New York.In his address, Mr. Abbas called for a permanent cease-fire that would bring the war in Gaza to an immediate and durable end, and for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.Many Palestinians fear that recognition of a state of Palestine will remain largely symbolic as Israel tries to negate any possibility of establishing one on the ground.Back home in the West Bank, Palestinians see Israel expanding its settlement project and closing them in behind new gates, fences and roadblocks amid a sharp rise in settler violence.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel vowed on Sunday that there would be no Palestinian state. Some Palestinians worry that their situation could worsen should the Israeli government retaliate in response to the new recognitions of Palestinian statehood. Members of Mr. Netanyahu’s hard-line coalition are already pressing him to annex chunks of the West Bank territory.“This Israeli government doesn’t seem to worry about challenging the international community with impunity,” said Hakam Qadri, 67, an activist from Salfit, in the central West Bank.Mr. Qadri noted that Israel had only recently given final approval for settlement construction in an area known as E1, a small but strategic patch of land where building was delayed for decades under international pressure. Foreign and domestic peace builders have long held that building in E1 would complicate the prospects of a viable, contiguous Palestinian heartland.The Palestinian Authority, the internationally backed body that wields limited control over parts of the West Bank, is gearing up to infuse the new recognitions of statehood with meaning. The hope, officials say, is that the recognition will become a legally binding tool, especially in countering any retaliatory moves by the Israeli government.“The recognitions of the state of Palestine must be understood not as symbolic gestures, but as essential instruments to deter Israel from altering the status and reality of an occupied state,” said Omar Awadallah, the Palestinian Authority’s deputy foreign minister.States that have formally recognized Palestine now have a clear responsibility “to uphold their legal and moral obligations,” he added. “This,” he said, “includes ensuring the protection of the Palestinian people and safeguarding the land of the state they themselves have recognized as being under occupation.”Mustafa Al-Araj, 35, who is from the Bethlehem area, said he saw the recognition as a possible opportunity and a “great step” that was largely the result of years of work by Palestinian activists and solidarity movements, especially in Europe.“But without real action, it won’t change daily life,” he cautioned. “It won’t revive industry in Bethlehem, agriculture in Jericho, or hospitals in Nablus.”“It may protect Palestinians and hold Israel accountable,” he said, adding, “Otherwise, it’s just ink on paper.”Sept. 22, 2025, 4:47 p.m. ETProtesters clashing with the police at the train station in Milan.Credit...Piero Cruciatti/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesMarching through streets and blocking access to trains, highways and docks, tens of thousands of Italians called for solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza on Monday during a one-day general strike marked by dozens of demonstrations.Though the protests and strikes disrupted transportation and activities in some cities, they were, in large part, peaceful. But there were moments of tension in Milan on Monday afternoon, when black-hooded protesters tried to force their way into the city’s main train station, hurling banners, metal barricades and garbage cans at one entrance in an attempt to get in.They were blocked by police officers in riot gear who used tear gas to disperse them.Hundreds of passengers in Milan were forced to remain inside the station, and trains registered lengthy delays. Train traffic was stalled in other cities, too, including Naples, where demonstrators occupied the train tracks on Monday morning.Law enforcement officials could not be reached for confirmation, but the Italian news media reported that some 50 police officers had been injured during the scuffles. The Italian news agency ANSA said eight protesters were questioned in the aftermath of the clashes.Grass-roots trade unions representing workers from metalworkers to firefighters to schoolteachers had called on Italians in both the public and private sector to strike to protest “the inertia of the Italian government and the European Union” for not imposing sanctions on Israel.One union, USB, said the strike was also a response “to the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army’s blockade of humanitarian aid, and threats against the international Global Sumud Flotilla mission.” The flotilla, an international group intent on delivering humanitarian aid by sea to Gaza, includes Italian trade unionists and workers.The clashes in Milan were condemned by lawmakers of all political stripes.“Violence and destruction have nothing to do with solidarity and won’t change a thing in the lives of people in Gaza, but will have concrete consequences for Italian citizens who will end up suffering and paying for the damage caused by these hooligans,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on X.Italy has said it will not formally recognize Palestinian statehood. Although she is a staunch Israeli ally, Ms. Meloni has criticized Israel’s military operations in Gaza, expressing concern over the high number of civilian casualties and describing the humanitarian situation there as “unjustifiable and unacceptable.”Sept. 22, 2025, 4:47 p.m. ETPresident Prabowo Subianto of Indonesia announced to the summit that his country would provide peacekeeping forces to secure a peace in Gaza.Sept. 22, 2025, 4:34 p.m. ETMarcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the president of Portugal, noted that his country on Sunday formally recognized the state of Palestine. He said recognition was not an “isolated gesture” but an effort to safeguard the prospects of a two-state solution. “Recognition of the state of Palestine is recognition of peace itself,” he said.Sept. 22, 2025, 4:12 p.m. ETKaroline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in a briefing on Monday that President Trump “has been very clear” that he disagreed with the wave of nations recognizing Palestinian statehood. “He feels this does not do anything to release the hostages, which is the primary goal right now in Gaza,” Leavitt said, and that it “does nothing” to end the war in Gaza. Echoing critiques of the recognitions from Israeli leaders, she said that Trump believes the moves “reward” Hamas. “So he believes these decisions are just more talk and not enough action from some of our friends and allies,” she said, noting that the president would speak about the issue when he addresses the United Nations on Tuesday.Sept. 22, 2025, 4:12 p.m. ETNear the end of his speech, Abbas addressed the people of Israel, stating “our future and yours depends on peace. Enough war. Let the people in our region live in durable peace and good neighborliness.” He then wished the Jews of the world a happy new year.Sept. 22, 2025, 4:11 p.m. ETAbbas, the Palestinian Authority president, called for Palestine to become a full-fledged member of the United Nations. A U.N. vote in late 2012 made Palestine a nonmember observer state in the organization, after which Abbas returned to the West Bank and declared: “We are now a state.” But for Palestinians in the West Bank, the situation on the ground has only grown worse with the expansion of Israel’s settlement project and intensifying violence.Credit...Eduardo Munoz/ReutersSept. 22, 2025, 4:10 p.m. ETAbbas, flanked by two Palestinian flags, also calls for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. He said that in post-war Gaza, the Palestinian Authority will rule the territory, and that Hamas will have no role in governing the enclave. He also called on the group to disarm. “What we want is a state with one law, and one legitimate security force,” he says.VideoCreditCredit...UNTV, via ReutersSept. 22, 2025, 4:05 p.m. ETThe Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, speaking via video link from his headquarters in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, called for a permanent cease-fire that would bring the war in Gaza to an immediate and durable end. “We need to guarantee the release of all hostages and prisoners,” he said, referring to the captives taken by Hamas during its assault on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which ignited the war, and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.Sept. 22, 2025, 3:51 p.m. ETNews AnalysisA wall in Jerusalem separating Israeli and Palestinian areas in 2010.Credit...Rina Castelnuovo for The New York TimesFrance, Britain and the other countries recognizing a Palestinian state this week say they aim to salvage whatever hope remains for the internationally backed formula to end the half-century-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians: a Jewish state of Israel at peace with a neighboring Palestinian one.But nearly two years into the devastating war in the Gaza Strip, Israelis and Palestinians alike say the possibility of a two-state solution seems more remote than ever.Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has devastated the enclave. Israeli settlements have become ever more entrenched in the West Bank. In opinion polls, Hamas still commands greater support among Palestinians than the more moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank.Many Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, now dismiss the possibility of ever allowing Palestinian independence. In the absence of any other solution, that would leave Israel ruling over millions of Palestinians indefinitely.“There will be no Palestinian state west of the Jordan River,” Mr. Netanyahu said on Sunday. “For years, I have prevented the establishment of this terrorist state facing tremendous pressures at home and abroad.”Partitioning the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea has long been a proposed solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The idea has formed the basis of multiple rounds of Israeli-Arab peace talks and United Nations resolutions.In a nutshell, most proposals say the Palestinian state would be established in the territory Israel occupied in the Arab-Israeli war of 1967 — the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Palestinian-majority neighborhoods of Jerusalem — while Israel would remain in its internationally recognized borders.Both Israeli and Palestinian critics question the justice, wisdom and feasibility of that approach. Many on both sides demand full control of the whole land, ruling out granting their rivals a state; only a small minority support a single, democratic state in which Palestinians and Israelis would have equal rights.In the 1990s and 2000s, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators held multiple rounds of talks that Palestinians hoped would lead to an independent state. As part of the Oslo Accords, they agreed to create the Palestinian Authority, which still administers some areas in the West Bank.But the talks fell apart in the early 2000s, as Palestinian militant attacks against Israeli civilians surged. Israel responded with a major crackdown, sending tanks into the larger Palestinian cities. The violence ultimately subsided, but the peace process was dealt a severe blow.Israeli and Palestinian officials last held serious peace negotiations during the Obama administration. Those talks were overseen by the same leaders still in charge today: Mr. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-ruling prime minister; and Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority.The peace process was moribund for about a decade in the wake of those talks. Then came the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which set off the war in Gaza and plunged Israelis and Palestinians into one of the deadliest chapters in their history.As Israel’s campaign in Gaza has razed swaths of the territory, the Israeli right has seized the opportunity to sharply expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank. About 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the territory alongside three million Palestinians.Israeli settler leaders hope that, by deepening their hold in the West Bank, they can foreclose the possibility of a Palestinian state. The Israeli government advanced plans for more than 20,000 new housing units in the settlements in 2025 alone, according to Peace Now, a settlement watchdog.Advocates for a two-state solution say that it would end Israel’s occupation, which subjects Palestinians to a harsh life of checkpoints and Israeli raids. West Bank Palestinians cannot vote in Israeli elections, even though the government wields broad control over their lives.The creation of a Palestinian state would also benefit Israelis, they say, by preserving Israel’s character as a Jewish-majority democracy and putting an end to the cycle of violence that has dominated the region for decades.But Israelis are skeptical that establishing such a state would end the conflict. In the wake of the 2023 attack, they often argue that any territorial withdrawal would invite further attacks on a smaller and weaker Israel.They also point to the failure of previous talks, for which they blame Palestinian leaders. Palestinians argue that Israel was never serious about compromise.In any case, Israeli leaders now freely assert that they will never allow a Palestinian state.Sept. 22, 2025, 3:49 p.m. ETThe image of the Palestinian Authority’s president, Mahmoud Abbas, looms over the General Assembly hall on a large screen. Abbas will deliver his speech via a video link from Ramallah in the West Bank because the United States denied him and his delegation visas.Sept. 22, 2025, 3:49 p.m. ETAntónio Guterres, the U.N. secretary general, tells the Assembly that statehood for Palestine is a right, not a reward, and that there is no other alternative. “Denying statehood would be a gift to extremists everywhere,” he said. “Without two states, there will be no peace in the Middle East, and radicalism will spread around.”VideoSept. 22, 2025, 3:45 p.m. ETThe Saudi foreign minister, Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud, speaking on behalf of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, thanked countries taking the “historic step” of recognizing Palestinian statehood. He called for “a new reality whereby the region can enjoy peace, prosperity and stability.”Credit...Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesSept. 22, 2025, 3:40 p.m. ETMacron noted that others would be joining France in recognizing Palestinian statehood on Monday, including Andorra, Malta, Luxembourg, Belgium, Monaco and San Marino. He said they were making “the responsible choice” that would “pave the way for useful negotiations” for Palestinians and Israelis.Sept. 22, 2025, 3:32 p.m. ETWith Macron’s announcement of France’s recognition of a Palestinian state, that’s all that needed to happen under French custom and law to make it official. There is no vote in the lower or upper houses of Parliament.Sept. 22, 2025, 3:27 p.m. ETPresident Emmanuel Macron of France at the United Nations announced his nation’s recognition of the state of Palestine, drawing applause and a standing ovation from some of the attendees.VideoCreditCredit...UNTV, via ReutersSept. 22, 2025, 3:21 p.m. ETIt is notable that Macron began his speech by denouncing the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, demanding that the remaining hostages be freed and antisemitism be smothered. He has worked repeatedly to try to convince Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel that his recognition of a Palestinian state is not a reward to Hamas or meant to inflame antisemitism in France.VideoCreditCredit...UNTV, via ReutersSept. 22, 2025, 3:17 p.m. ETIan AustenInternational correspondent based in OttawaThe day after Canada joined other nations in recognizing Palestine, Prime Minister Mark Carney said that he hopes that there will be a policy alignment with United States. “We would hope that there would be convergence with the United States,” he said following a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. “And we will certainly support leadership of the United States that’s leading to outcomes that are consistent with our values.”Sept. 22, 2025, 3:03 p.m. ETPresident Emmanuel Macron of France arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City on Monday.Credit...Ludovic Marin/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesPresident Emmanuel Macron of France formally recognized the state of Palestine on Monday afternoon in a speech opening a special summit at the United Nations. France’s recognition, following similar moves by other nations to acknowledge Palestinian statehood in recent days, drew applause in the hall and a standing ovation from some attendees.“The time has come,” Mr. Macron said. He acknowledged that the decision was part of an effort to end the war in Gaza, and that it served as “the recognition that both Israelis and Palestinians live in a twin solitude: the solitude of the Israelis after the historical nightmare of Oct. 7, 2023, and the solitude of the Palestinians, at the end of their rope, in this endless war.”For Mr. Macron, the formal acknowledgment is an attempt to salvage the two-state solution, which would acknowledge both a state of Israel and a state of Palestine, side by side. The idea was first pronounced by the United Nations in 1947 but was rejected by Arab countries and Palestinians at the time and led to a war.The idea of a two-state solution has been at the heart of failed peace negotiations for decades, and Mr. Macron worried it was imperiled by Israel’s continued approval of new settlements in the occupied West Bank, he explained to CBS in an interview broadcast on Sunday.For Mr. Macron, the acknowledgment of a state of Palestine is intimately tied to a larger “day after” plan for Gaza, once a cease-fire is declared, that his team developed with Saudi Arabia since last winter. The 42-point plan was approved by 142 countries at the United Nations General Assembly this month.Its practical steps include the establishment of a “transitional administrative committee” to oversee governing and the creation of a stabilization force under the aegis of the United Nations to provide security. In the CBS interview, Mr. Macron said Middle Eastern countries, including Jordan and Egypt, had already committed to sending troops and that any security operation would be vetted by Israel.Mr. Macron used his planned acknowledgment of Palestine as leverage to secure key pronouncements that isolate Hamas — which led the deadly 2023 attacks on southern Israel — politically and call for the group to be disarmed. Given that the plan approved by the General Assembly was signed by many Arab and Middle Eastern countries, including traditional allies of Hamas, Mr. Macron’s team considers the agreement a breakthrough.He also used the symbolism of his act to ply public commitments by Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority. Those include holding elections in 2026, for the first time in 20 years; overhauling the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank; and stripping the Palestinian education curriculum of hate speech and incitement.On Sunday, the governments of Britain, Canada, Australia and Portugal formally recognized the state of Palestine on the eve of Monday’s summit in New York.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel called those decisions futile and “a huge reward to terrorism.”“And I have another message for you: It will not happen,” he said of the prospect of Palestinian statehood in a video statement on Sunday. “A Palestinian state will not be established west of the Jordan River.”Sept. 22, 2025, 2:50 p.m. ETPresident Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine before a news conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.Credit...Evgeniy Maloletka/Associated PressPresident Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Monday urged those gathering for the United Nations General Assembly in New York to place “real, powerful pressure on Russia” to end the war it began more than three years ago.Mr. Zelensky posted the message on social media as, he said, rescue efforts were underway after Russian strikes on Zaporizhzhia and the Donetsk, Dnipro, Sumy, Kyiv, Kharkiv and Kherson regions. At least three people were killed in the overnight attacks, he said.“Action must be taken so that murder and war do not become routine,” he wrote.His message came as Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said President Trump would meet with Mr. Zelensky on Tuesday in New York.Mr. Zelensky has expressed some optimism about U.S.-led peace efforts. Still, this year’s General Assembly is “the fourth time in a row that Russia accompanies one of the world’s highest-level annual diplomatic events with killings,” he posted.The Ukrainian leader called on Europe, the United States, the Group of 7 and the Group of 20 countries to place “strong sanctions, strong political pressure and accountability for Russia’s war.”Last week, the European Union announced a new package of sanctions — the bloc’s 19th — and sent a signal to the White House that it was willing to meet Mr. Trump’s demand that European nations to stop buying oil from Russia before the United States moved forward with more sanctions.“It is time to turn off the tap,” said Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, as she announced the package of sanctions on Friday. The new measures “are an effective tool of economic pressure, and we will keep using them until Russia comes to the negotiating table,” she said.Earlier on Monday, Mr. Zelensky spoke with Mark Rutte, NATO’s secretary general, about the need for protection against Russian strikes, primarily in the form of air-defense systems and missiles.The Security Council is expected to hold a meeting on the war in Ukraine on Tuesday, and Mr. Zelensky is scheduled to speak on Wednesday.