Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he is ready to work with world leaders to implement a peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians announced by France on Monday. Speaking via video at the UN General Assembly, Abbas reiterated his rejection of a future governing role for Hamas in Gaza and demanded it disarm.

Some 160 states have signed up to recognize a Palestinian state. In the last week, the United Kingdom, France, Canada and Australia have done so, but the prospect of it becoming a reality amid US opposition and Israeli resistance is at best a distant one.

Roughly 80% of UN members now back Palestinian statehood after several recognized it this week. We need to give the Palestinians hope for the future and also make sure that the Israelis can live in peace.

There has been a recent rush of countries to formally recognise the state of Palestine. Affirming Palestinian sovereignty marks a historic diplomatic milestone, yet the exact layout of its territory, a central requirement under international law, remains fiercely contested from every hilltop in the West Bank to the ruins of Gaza.

French official Pascal Confavreux defends U.N. Palestinian statehood initiative against Trump's criticism that it rewards Hamas for Oct. 7 attacks.

France and several other Western nations formally declared their recognition of a Palestinian state at the United Nations on Monday in a move that deepens Israel’s international isolation as it pursues its maximalist war aims in Gaza and expands settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Spain’s top diplomat dismissed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that there will never be a Palestinian state.

Dozens of world leaders gathered to rally support for a two-state solution at the U.N. General Assembly after a number of U.S. allies formally recognized Palestine as a state.