'World cannot wait': Australia to recognise Palestine

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced Australia will join allies such as France, the UK and Canada and recognise Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September.

"Australia will recognise the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own," the prime minister told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

"A two-state solution is humanity's best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to bring an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza."

The prime minister said Palestinian recognition was part of international efforts to resolve the conflict in the Middle East.

Any recognition would need to guarantee that the designated terror group Hamas, which de facto governs Gaza, played no role in its future government, the prime minister said.

Mr Albanese, who said the situation in Gaza had gone "beyond the world's worst fears, also revealed he spoke on Thursday to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and advocated for a political solution to the conflict.

The federal government has been under increasing pressure to do more on the Middle East as more than two million Palestinians face high levels of acute food insecurity, according to UN projections.

At least 90,000 protesters marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in early August, alongside thousands more in other Australian capitals, urging the government to sanction Israel.

The prime minister acknowledged the international community had to act.

"This is about much more than drawing a line on a map. This is about delivering a lifeline to the people of Gaza," he said.

"The toll of the status quo is growing by the day, and it can be measured in innocent lives. 

"The world cannot wait for success to be guaranteed."

But Palestinian recognition could be used as a "veneer" that allows Israel to "continue brutalising Palestinians with no consequences", Australia Palestine Advocacy Network's president Nasser Mashni warned.

"What I want today is for Palestinians not to be slaughtered, what I want as an Australian is our government not to be complicit in that slaughter ... for Palestinians like myself to have the opportunity to enact our inalienable right to return," he told reporters in Melbourne.

"What happens after that will be upon the Palestinian people.

"It's not my job, or Anthony Albanese's to determine how Palestinians might seek their self-determination."

The Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council has condemned the government's decision.

"Recognition by Western countries telegraphs to Hamas that its rejection of multiple ceasefire proposals over the past 12 months were the correct decision," the council said in a statement.

Israel's ambassador in Australia Amir Maimon said recognition has been taken for "symbolic reasons rather than genuine progress toward peace".

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and coalition foreign affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash have also taken issue with recognition.

They warned it "risks delivering Hamas one of its strategic objectives" and puts Australia at odds with the US, which is "our most important ally and the most consequential player in the conflict in Gaza".

Foreign Minister Penny Wong confirmed she spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about Australia's intention to recognise Palestine before the decision was formally announced.

Australia has broken from the US in previous UN votes on issues regarding Palestine.

Greens senator David Shoebridge said the recognition was overdue, but should also include sanctions on Israel.

The crisis in Gaza began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1200 people and taking about 250 more hostage.

Israel's military response has since killed more than 61,000 people, according to Gaza's health authorities.

Israel has denied that the population is suffering or dying from starvation even though it has throttled the flow of aid to Gaza for months, international human rights groups have said.

Australian Associated Press