Overview

• Foreign minister Gideon Saar said Western recognition of a Palestinian state would prompt Israel to take unspecified unilateral measures.
• France plans to recognize Palestine at the UN General Assembly in late September, with Canada, Australia and Belgium indicating similar intentions and the UK saying it would follow if no Gaza truce is reached.
• Far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich previously said Israel’s response to European recognition would be the application of Israeli sovereignty across the West Bank.
• US officials escalated warnings, with Ambassador Mike Huckabee calling recognition disastrous and a breach of the Oslo Accords and Secretary of State Marco Rubio cautioning capitals about possible Israeli annexation.
• Jordan’s King Abdullah II and the UAE’s Mohammed bin Zayed voiced strong opposition to any Israeli annexation and to settlement expansion in the West Bank.