Israel accused Emmanuel Macron of giving Hamas a “prize for terrorism” after he said France was ready to formally recognise Palestine as a state.

In a major foreign policy shift, the French president said Paris could recognise a Palestinian state as early as June, at a UN conference in New York. If this took place France would become the first permanent member of the UN Security Council to do so, potentially creating a rift with Israel ally Donald Trump.

During a two-day trip to Egypt, Mr Macron said recognition would encourage several countries in the Middle East that do not recognise Israel to do so.

“We need to move towards recognition. And so over the next few months, we will. I’m not doing it to please anyone. I’ll do it because at some point it will be right,” he said on Wednesday.

“And because I also want to take part in a collective dynamic that should also enable those who defend Palestine to recognise Israel in their turn, something that many of them are not doing.”

Gideon Saar, Israel’s foreign minister, posted on X: “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.

“These kind of actions will not bring peace, security and stability in our region closer – but the opposite: they only push them further away.”