Britain, Australia, Canada and Portugal on Sunday recognised a Palestinian state after nearly two years of war in Gaza, with France, Belgium and other countries poised to follow suit at the UN General Assembly.

Here is an overview of diplomatic recognition of the state, which was unilaterally proclaimed by the Palestinian leadership in exile in 1988.

Of the territory claimed by the state, Israel currently occupies the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is largely in ruins.

Which countries recognise or will recognise State of Palestine?

Answer: three-quarters of UN members.

According to an AFP tally, at least 145 countries out of 193 UN members now recognise the State of Palestine.

AFP has not yet obtained recent confirmation from three African countries.

The count includes Britain and Canada – the first G7 countries to do so -, Australia and Portugal.

Several other countries, including France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Malta, are expected to follow suit during a summit on the future of the two-state solution chaired by France and Saudi Arabia on Monday at United Nations headquarters in New York.

Russia, alongside all Arab countries, almost all African and Latin American countries, and most Asian countries, including India and China, are already on the list.

Algeria became the first country to officially recognise a Palestinian state on November 15, 1988, minutes after late Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat unilaterally proclaimed an independent Palestinian state.

Dozens of other countries followed suit in the following weeks and months, and another wave of recognitions came in late 2010 and early 2011.

The Israeli offensive in Gaza has now driven another 13 countries to recognise the state.

Who does not?

Answer: at least 45 countries, including Israel, the United States and their allies.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government completely rejects the idea of a Palestinian state.

In Asia, Japan, South Korea and Singapore are among the countries that do not recognise Palestine.

Neither does Cameroon in Africa, Panama in Latin America and most countries in Oceania.

Europe is the most divided continent on the issue, and is split almost 50-50 over Palestinian statehood.

Until the mid-2010s, the only countries recognising the State of Palestine apart from Turkey were those of the former Soviet bloc.

Now, some former Eastern Bloc countries such as Hungary and the Czech Republic do not recognise a Palestinian state at a bilateral level.

Western and northern Europe were until now united in non-recognition, with the exception of Sweden, which extended recognition in 2014.

But the war in Gaza has upended things, with Norway, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia following in Sweden’s footsteps to recognise the state in 2024, before the United Kingdom and Portugal did so on Sunday.

Italy and Germany do not plan on recognising a Palestinian state.

What does recognition mean? 

Romain Le Boeuf, a professor in international law at the University of Aix-Marseille in southern France, described recognition of Palestinian statehood as “one of the most complicated questions” in international law, “a little like a halfway point between the political and juridical”.

He told AFP states were free to choose the timing and form of recognition, with great variations that are either explicit or implicit.

According to Le Boeuf, there is no office to register recognitions.

“The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank puts all they consider to be acts of recognition on its own list, but from a purely subjective point of view. In the same way, other states will say that they have or have not recognised, but without really having to justify themselves,” he said.

However, there is one point on which international law is quite clear: “Recognition does not mean that a state has been created, no more than the lack of recognition prevents the state from existing.”

While recognition carries largely symbolic and political weight, three-quarters of countries say “that Palestine meets all the necessary conditions to be a state”, he said.

“I know for many people this seems only symbolic, but actually in terms of symbolism, it is sort of a game changer,” lawyer and Franco-British law professor Philippe Sands wrote in the New York Times in mid-August 2025.

“Because once you recognise Palestinian statehood… you essentially put Palestine and Israel on level footing in terms of their treatment under international law.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is exploring proposals to abolish some visa fees for top global talent at a time when the US has taken a tougher stance on immigration, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

Starmer’s “global talent task force” is working on ideas to attract the world’s best scientists, academics and digital experts to the UK in a bid to drive economic growth, the report said, citing people briefed on the discussions inside Number 10 and the Treasury.

The idea of cutting visa costs to zero is for people who have attended the world’s top five universities or have won prestigious prizes, an official told the newspaper.

According to the report, the reforms were being discussed in Number 10 and the Treasury before the Trump administration announced its decision to impose a $100,000 fee for new H-1B visas, which are widely used by US tech companies, from Sunday.

The US decision, however, has put “wind in the sails” to those pushing for changes to Britain’s high-end visa system, aiming to spur growth ahead of the November 26 Budget, a person involved in the UK discussions told FT.

Britain’s global talent visa application costs £766 ($1,030), with partners and children paying the same fee.

The Treasury department and Downing Street did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

• “I still have fond memories of US President Trump,” says Kim.
• Adds North Korea will ‘never ever’ negotiate on matter.
• South Korea’s President Lee says sanctions, pressure have failed.
  

SEOUL:  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said there is no reason to avoid dialogue with the US if Washington stops insisting his country give up nuclear weapons but he will never trade away the nuclear arsenal to be free of sanctions, state media reported on Monday.

In a speech at the Supreme People’s Assembly on Sunday, Kim said: “Personally, I still have fond memories of US President Trump,” KCNA reported. The two leaders met three times during Trump’s first presidency.

The comments come at a time when the new liberal government in Seoul is urging Trump to take the lead in reopening dialogue with Kim, six years after all peace talks with Pyongyang collapsed over a clash on sanctions and nuclear dismantlement.

“If the United States drops the absurd obsession with denuclearising us and accepts reality, and wants genuine peaceful coexistence, there is no reason for us not to sit down with the United States,” Kim was quoted as saying.

It was a matter of survival for the country to build nuclear weapons to safeguard its security against grave threats from the United States and South Korea, Kim said, listing a series of regular military drills by the allies that he said have evolved into exercises for a nuclear war.

Recent overtures from Washington and Seoul for dialogue are disingenuous because their fundamental intent to weaken the North and destroy his regime remains unchanged, Kim said, adding a phased proposal by the South on ending the North’s nuclear programmes was proof of that.

“The world already knows full well what the United States does after it makes a country give up its nuclear weapons and disarms,” Kim said. “We will never give up our nuclear weapons.”

‘No negotiations for eternity’

“There will never be, and will never ever be for eternity, any negotiations with enemies of exchanging some things out of some obsession with lifting sanctions.”

Sanctions have been “a learning experience” and made his country stronger and more resilient, he said.

North Korea has been under a series of UN Security Council resolutions imposing economic sanctions and arms embargoes that have squeezed funding for military development but it has continued to make advances in building nuclear weapons and powerful ballistic missiles.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said in an interview with Reuters those sanctions have ultimately failed to deter the North, which today is adding massive nuclear weapons numbering 15 to 20 to its arsenal every year.

“The reality is that the previous approach of sanctions and pressure has not solved the problem; it has worsened it,” Lee said.

Lee has made peace overtures since taking office in June, saying dialogue with Pyongyang was necessary, and has proposed steps to build confidence and eventually end the North’s nuclear programme.

Lee told Reuters there are formidable obstacles to reopening dialogue with the North but he still believed the phased approach on dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear programme was the realistic option.

It was necessary to create the right conditions to bring the North back to the table and Trump has a key role to play in those efforts, said Lee.