Australia is planning to recognize the Palestinian state at the United Nations General Meeting next month, confirmed Prime Minister Anthony Albanian Monday.
“Australia will acknowledge the right of the Palestinian people to their own state, based on the commitments that Australia has received from the Palestinian authority,” said Albanese, referring to the administration of part of the western Jordoever.
Those commitments, he said, include the demilitarization of Gaza and holding elections – without a role for Hamas in a Palestinian government. Australia has appointed Hamas a terrorist entity and Albanese repeated the calls of his government on Monday to return the group to return Israeli hostages that has been held since the massacre of 7 October 2023.
Albanian said that Australia will work with the international community to make the right of the Palestinian state a ‘reality’.
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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanian announces that Australia will recognize a Palestinian state during a press conference in Canberra, Monday 11 August 2025. (Mick Tsikas/AAP image via AP)
“A two-state solution is the best hope of humanity to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to put an end to the conflict, suffering and hunger in Gaza,” said Albanian.
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The prime minister said that the situation there “passed the worst fears in the world.” He accused the Israeli government of continuing “to defy international law and refuse sufficient help, food and water for desperate people, including children.”
Destroyed buildings are in Gaza, seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 28, 2025. (Reuters)
The announcement of Albanian followed similar explanations by the leaders of France, Great Britain and Canada. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized Australia and other European countries for the move and accused them of marching in a ‘rabbit hole’.
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“[T]His Canard, is disappointing and I find it actually embarrassing, “said the Israeli leader on Sunday.
The Australia government, in turn, criticized that the plans of Netanyahu have announced in recent days for a radical new military offensive in Gaza.
Palestinians who wear pans gather to receive hot meals on July 23, 2025. (Khames Alrefi/Anadolu via getty images)
The Australian leader last week spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who agreed to submit the conditions with Western leaders when they prepared to recognize a Palestinian state.
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“This is an opportunity to deliver self -determination for the people of Palestine in a way isolates Hamas, displays it and drives it once and for all from the region,” said Albanian.
To date, almost 150 of the 193 members of the United Nations have recognized the state of Palestine – many of whom did that decades ago. The US and many of the Western allies have kept and claim that the Palestinian state should be the final phase of terminating the conflict that has been going on since 1948.
In the meantime, Israeli leaders have pushed back on recognizing a Palestinian State, with the argument that would reward terrorism and do little to strengthen the position of the Palestinian authority, which lost control of the GazaSastruit after a violent conflict with Hamas in 2007. Gaza has since arrived.
The sessions of 2025 of the UN General Meeting start on September 9 and last until 25 September.
The Associated Press has contributed to this report.
