Italy signals readiness to recognise Palestinian statehood as France calls for urgent action 

In Rome, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Italy could move toward recognising Palestine if Israeli hostages are released and Hamas is excluded from any future Palestinian government. She presented the stance as a matter of setting clear priorities and cautioned that premature recognition could risk rewarding extremism.

Her remarks came as EU partners, including France and Belgium, formally announced recognition, intensifying pressure on Rome to clarify its position.

Italians strike for peace

At home, the government’s caution clashed with a surge of public activism. Earlier this week, nationwide strikes and more than 80 protests swept through cities from Palermo to Milan, blocking ports in Genoa and Livorno and drawing tens of thousands into the streets.

Protesters marched under slogans to ‘defend the flotilla and stop the war economy’ demanding an end to Italian arms exports to Israel and immediate recognition of Palestine. While many demonstrations were peaceful, clashes between protesters and police escalated in Milan. 

Meloni condemned the violence on X as “destructive and unrelated to solidarity” and warned of consequences for those involved. Yet on the streets, support for the demonstrations was palpable, with even stranded commuters applauding protesters from their cars.

France strikes tone with call for urgent action

In an address to the UN General Assembly, French President Emmanuel Macron declared France’s formal recognition of a Palestinian State. “The time for peace has come,” he said, warning the world was “only moments away from no longer being able to seize it.” 

The President linked France’s recognition with a broader framework for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of Israeli hostages and reforms within the Palestinian Authority. 

He added that France would delay opening a Palestinian embassy until hostages from Hamas are freed and that “recognition should be part of a larger political solution.”

A cascade of recognition

Prime Minister Bart De Wever, also speaking in New York, said Belgium would move from symbolic to legal recognition of Palestine but stressed that this would remain conditional. He tied the step to Belgium’s long-standing support for a two-state solution and recent humanitarian aid for Gaza, while warning that recognition could not be ‘a reward for Hamas.’

The coordinated announcements of Commonwealth partners likewise reinforced the mounting diplomatic push to revive the two-state solution. 

In a video statement, Prime Minister Keir Starmer framed the United Kingdom’s recognition as vital to ‘keep alive the possibility of peace,’ while condemning Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and the humanitarian crisis it has created as ‘utterly intolerable.’

Prime Minister Mark Carney made Canada the first G7 nation to extend recognition, casting it as a necessary step to preserve diplomatic space. He criticised Israel’s settlement expansion and described the toll of the Gaza war as ‘devastating,’ while underscoring that recognition “in no way legitimises terrorism, nor is it any reward for it.” 

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the UN that recognition was about breaking the cycle of violence and giving Palestinians “real hope for a place they can call home.” 

What about Germany?

Notably absent from the wave of recognition is Germany. Berlin has repeatedly cited its historic responsibility toward Israel, stressing that any recognition should come as part of a comprehensive peace process.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz chose not to attend this week’s UN General Assembly in New York, where the Palestinian question was expected to dominate. Diplomats read his absence as a signal of Berlin’s unease with mounting international pressure on Israel and a reaffirmation of Germany’s cautious position.