Friday Briefing: France to Recognize Palestinian Statehood
President Emmanuel Macron announced yesterday that France would recognize Palestine as a state, becoming the first of the Group of Seven major industrialized nations to do so.
In a surprise statement on X, Macron said that he would make the formal announcement at the U.N. General Assembly in September in New York. The move is likely to irritate President Trump as he makes his own moves to try to end the war. Most countries recognize Palestine as a nation, but the U.S. and most of its close allies do not.
'Today the most urgent thing is that the war in Gaza cease and the civilian population be helped,' Macron said.
After 21 months of devastating war, the lack of available food and water in Gaza is taking a heavy toll on the most vulnerable — the young, the old and the sick. The World Food Program said this week that a third of Gaza's population was 'not eating for multiple days in a row.'
Gaza's hospitals have struggled to cope with those wounded by Israeli airstrikes and, more recently, by Israeli shootings meant to disperse desperate crowds near food convoys and at aid distribution sites. Now, doctors say that hunger is killing their patients and that the number of children dying of malnutrition has risen sharply in recent days.
Talks: The U.S. and Israel withdrew from cease-fire negotiations with Hamas. The U.S. special envoy said that 'alternative options' would be explored to bring hostages home, but did not provide further details.
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