The United Kingdom and Portugal will recognize the Palestinian state this Sunday

The United Kingdom and Portugal are due to officially recognise the State of Palestine this Sunday, September 21, 2025.

A growing number of countries long close to Israel have taken this symbolic step in recent months as Israel has intensified its offensive in Gaza , triggered by a deadly attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in 2023.

At a summit on Monday co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, which is to consider the future of the two-state solution, around ten countries are expected to confirm their formal recognition of the Palestinian state.

The United Kingdom , a long-time close ally of Israel, will take this step as early as Sunday, according to British media.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced in July that his country would recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly unless Israel made a series of commitments, including a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Noting a deterioration in the situation , the British Prime Minister is due to confirm his decision on Sunday, according to the BBC , the Press Association agency and the Guardian .

Keir Starmer had argued that this measure would contribute to a genuine peace process . In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused him of rewarding "monstrous terrorism."

The Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Friday that Portugal "will recognize the State of Palestine" on Sunday, September 21.

At the end of July, Lisbon announced this measure in particular in view of "the extremely worrying development of the conflict, both on a humanitarian level and through repeated references to a possible annexation of Palestinian territories" .

Expansion in the West Bank

"The recognition of a Palestinian state is a consequence of the serious expansion we are seeing in the West Bank , the settler violence we are seeing in the West Bank and the intention and indications we are seeing to build, for example, the E1 project, which would seriously undermine the possibility of a two-state solution," Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, who will represent the UK at the UN General Assembly, was quoted as saying by the Press Association on Sunday.

The E1 project , approved by the Israeli government, is a key plan to build 3,400 housing units in the West Bank, denounced in particular by the UN because it would cut this Palestinian territory in two.

"Regarding what is happening in Gaza... we must see the hostages released. There can be no room, no room at all, for Hamas," Mr. Lammy stressed.

About three-quarters of the UN's 193 member states recognize the Palestinian state proclaimed by the Palestinian leadership in exile in 1988.

These new recognitions come as Israel launched this week a vast ground and air military campaign in Gaza City , in the north of the Palestinian territory, to destroy Hamas there.

The Israeli army warned Friday that it would strike Gaza City with "unprecedented force" after nearly half a million residents fled , worsening the serious humanitarian crisis in the devastated territory where the UN has declared a state of famine.

On Tuesday, a UN-mandated independent commission of inquiry found that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, a claim Israeli authorities have denied.

The October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to official data.

According to the Hamas government's health ministry in Gaza, Israeli reprisals have claimed the lives of 65,062 Palestinians, mostly civilians , in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas seized power in 2007.