Paris, 25 July 2025 (dpa/MIA) - France will recognize Palestine as a state, President Emmanuel Macron posted on the platform X on Thursday evening.

"In keeping with its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the State of Palestine," Macron wrote.

"I will solemnly announce this at the United Nations General Assembly in September this year."

"Peace is possible," he wrote further. He said it is up to the French to demonstrate this together with the Israelis, the Palestinians, and European and international partners.

Israeli leaders condemn Macron's move

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly condemned Macron's announcement.

"Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

"A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel," the statement read.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also reacted on the social media platform X. "A Palestinian state will be a Hamas state," he wrote.

Hamas welcomes Macron's pledge

Meanwhile, Hamas welcomed Macron's announcement, calling it a positive step toward achieving justice and self-determination for the Palestinian people.

In a statement, the Islamist group urged other countries, particularly in Europe, to follow France's lead and reaffirmed its goal of establishing a sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Call for ceasefire and demilitarization

Macron emphasized in his post that it is urgently necessary to end the war in the Gaza Strip and to provide aid to the civilian population. Additionally, he said that the demilitarization of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas must be ensured.

Macron wrote that the viability of a Palestinian state must be secured. "There is no alternative," he highlighted in bold in the post.

Macron shared in his post a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. In light of the commitments Abbas had made to him, he said he had communicated his determination to proceed in writing, Macron wrote.

According to the letter, Abbas reaffirmed that the Palestinian Authority intends to assume sovereign responsibilities in the Gaza Strip, which is currently controlled by Hamas, and is seeking to implement deep reforms. He also expressed support for holding elections next year.

The letter also states that the future Palestinian state should not be militarized. Abbas is said to have supported the disarmament of Hamas, condemned the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack, and called for the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas.

The October 7 assault on Israel by Hamas and other Islamist extremists triggered the war in Gaza.

Macron initially eyed UN stage for announcement

The French president had previously indicated his willingness to recognize Palestine as a state.

Initially, he had named the UN conference on the two-state solution in New York as a possible time for announcing the decision; however, the conference was postponed from June to the end of this month.

Macron had also said that he simultaneously aimed for pro-Palestinian states to recognize Israel and for "mutual recognition" by several states to occur at the conference.

Recently, Norway and the two EU countries Ireland and Spain announced their intention to recognize Palestine as an independent state.

Almost 150 UN member states already recognize Palestinian statehood. However, important Western countries are not among them, including the UN veto powers the United States and the United Kingdom. Germany also does not recognize Palestine as a state.

Israel is not recognized by countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Syria.

Macron has repeatedly expressed concern about the situation in the Gaza Strip and criticized Israel's actions in the area.

German government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said after Macron's visit to Berlin for a working dinner the previous evening that the French president and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz had appealed to the Israeli government "to initiate a ceasefire and take humanitarian measures immediately."

France recently signed the appeal by 28 states to end the Gaza war, but Germany did not.

UK, France, Germany to discuss Gaza on Friday

Now the situation seems to be escalating further: According to a statement from the British government, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer intends to coordinate with allies France and Germany in an urgent phone call regarding the situation in the Gaza Strip on Friday.

Shortly before Macron's announcement, the United States had recalled its negotiating team from Qatar's capital, Doha. The US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff wrote on the platform X that Hamas is not willing to achieve a ceasefire.

Recognition is considered an important incentive for the Palestinian side to make concessions in peace negotiations.

However, critics of recognition argue that the Palestinian Territories lack important criteria for such a step. For example, the border between Israel and the Palestinians remains disputed. This also applies to the political status of East Jerusalem.