Palestinian minister welcomes France's plan to recognise Palestinian state

France's recognition of the Palestinian state "would be a step in the right direction, consistent with the defence of the rights of the Palestinian people and the two-state solution," Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, the Palestinian Authority's minister of state for foreign affairs, told AFP.

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar denounced French President Emmanuel Macron's announcement that Paris could recognise a Palestinian state by June.

"A unilateral recognition of a fictional Palestinian state, by any country, in the reality that we all know, will be a prize for terror and a boost for Hamas," Saar said on X late on Wednesday.