Australia recognizes the Palestinian state in the UN next month

Australia plans to recognize the Palestinian state in the United Nations General Assembly next month, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed on Monday.

“Australia will recognize 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 governing entity of part of the West Bank.

These commitments, he said, understood the demilitarization of Gaza and the holding of the elections-without role for Hamas in a Palestinian government. Australia has appointed Hamas a terrorist entity and Albanese repeated Monday that the group returned the Israeli hostages held since the massacre of October 7, 2023.

Albanese said that Australia will work with the international community to make Palestinian state law as a “reality”.

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announces that Australia will recognize a Palestinian state at a press conference in Canberra on Monday, August 11, 2025. (Image Mick Tsikas / AAP via AP)

“A solution to two states is the best hope of humanity to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and put an end to the conflict, to suffering and to famine in Gaza,” said Albanese.

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The Prime Minister said that the situation “had gone beyond the worst fears of the world”. He accused the Israeli government of continuing to “challenge international law and refuse sufficient help, food and water for desperate people, including children”.

The destroyed buildings are in Gaza, as we can see on the Israeli side of the border on July 28, 2025. (Reuters)

Albanese’s announcement has followed similar declarations by the leaders of France, Great Britain and Canada. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized Australia and other European countries for this decision, accusing them of walking in a “rabbit hole”.

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“(T) his duck, is disappointing and I think it’s actually shameful,” the Israeli chief said on Sunday.

The Australian government in turn criticized Netanyahu’s plans announced in recent days for a new military offensive in Gaza.

The Palestinians wearing pans, come together to receive hot meals on July 23, 2025. (Khames Alrefi / Anadolu via Getty Images)

The Australian leader spoke last week to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who accepted the conditions with Western leaders while they were preparing to recognize a Palestinian state.

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“This is an opportunity to provide self -determination to the inhabitants of Palestine in a way that isolates Hamas, disarma and gets it out of the region once and for all,” said Albanese.

To date, nearly 150 of the 193 members of the United Nations have recognized the state of Palestine – many of which did decades ago. The United States and many of its Western allies have retained, arguing that the Palestinian state should be the last stage in the end of the current conflict since 1948.

The Israeli leaders, on the other hand, repelled the recognition of a Palestinian state, arguing that it would reward terrorism and would do little to strengthen the position of the Palestinian authority, which lost control of the Gaza Strip after a violent conflict with Hamas in 2007. The terrorist group has ruled Gaza since.

The 2025 sessions of the United Nations General Assembly will start on September 9 and last until September 25.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.