French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that France will recognize Palestine as a state, amid snowballing global anger over people starving in Gaza.

Macron said in a post on social media that he will formalize the decision at the United Nations General Assembly in September. “The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved.″

The French president offered support for Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and frequently speaks out against anti-Semitism, but he has grown increasingly frustrated about Israel’s war in Gaza, especially in recent months.

“Given its historic commitment to a just and sustainable peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the state of Palestine,” Macron posted. ″Peace is possible.”

He also posted a letter he sent to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about the decision.

Abbas’ deputy Hussein al-Sheikh welcomed France’s intent to recognize a State of Palestine, thanking Macron.

“This position reflects France’s commitment to international law and its support for the Palestinian people’s rights to self-determination and the establishment of our independent state,” Sheikh said.

On the streets, Palestinians told AFP that they hoped other countries would now follow suit.

Three quarters of U.N. states support a Palestinian state

France is the biggest and most powerful European country to recognize Palestine. According to an AFP list, at least 142 countries out of the 193 U.N. members have now recognized or plan to recognize a Palestinian state, though Israel and the United States strongly oppose recognition.

They include most Middle Eastern, African, Latin American and Asian countries, but not the United States, Canada, most of western Europe, Australia, Japan or South Korea.

France has Europe’s largest Jewish population and the largest Muslim population in Western Europe, and fighting in the Middle East often spills over into protests or other tensions in France.

Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Yariv Levin slammed France’s move to recognize a State of Palestine on Thursday, calling it “a black mark on French history and a direct aid to terrorism.”

Levin, who is also justice minister, said France’s “shameful decision” meant it was now “time to apply Israeli sovereignty” to the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez welcomed France’s decision to join Spain in recognizing the State of Palestine, saying it would “protect” a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“Together, we must protect what (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu is trying to destroy,” the Socialist leader, an outspoken critic of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, wrote on X. “The two-state solution is the only solution.”

France’s foreign minister is co-hosting a conference at the U.N. next week about a two-state solution. Last month, Macron expressed his “determination to recognize the state of Palestine”, and he has pushed for a broader movement toward a two-state solution, in parallel with recognition of Israel and its right to defend itself.

Thursday’s announcement came soon after the U.S. cut short Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar, saying Hamas wasn’t showing good faith.

Momentum has been building against Israel in recent days. Earlier this week, France and more than two dozen mostly European countries condemned Israel’s restrictions on aid shipments into the territory and the killings of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach food.

The Palestinians seek an independent state in the occupied West Bank, annexed East Jerusalem and Gaza, territories Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel’s government and most of its political class have long been opposed to Palestinian statehood and now say that it would reward militants after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Israel annexed East Jerusalem shortly after the 1967 war and considers it part of its capital. In the West Bank, it has built scores of settlements, some resembling sprawling suburbs, that are now home to more than 500,000 Jewish settlers with Israeli citizenship. The territory’s 3 million Palestinians live under Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy in population centers.

– AP, AFP and FRANCE 24. Edited for style.