Palestine state Who else will back 'symbolic gesture'?

France's decision to recognise Palestine at the next UN general assembly is an attempt to build momentum for change and break from western powers' impassivity in the face of Israel's mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza.

- Julian Borger

Emmanuel Macron's declaration, announced in typically dramatic fashion on social media late on Thursday night, draws a bright line between the paths followed by the US and France over the Gaza war, and significantly raises the pressure on the UK, Germany and other G7 powers to pick a side.

Friedrich Merz's government in Germany said it had "no plans to recognise a Palestinian state in the short term", but Keir Starmer's position is more flexible, favouring recognition at an undefined "point of maximum impact", and he is facing growing calls from parliament, the Labour party and within cabinet to follow Macron.

"It obviously puts huge pressure on the UK to act likewise," Victor Kattan, assistant professor of public international law at Nottingham University, said. "France and the UK are very close allies, and they've obviously spoken about this when Macron visited the UK."

The continuing shift in western European positions has come at a time when UN officials and increasing numbers of legal experts are accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.