


With a growing number of Western countries declaring they could soon recognize Palestinian statehood amid outrage over Israel’s handling of the Gaza conflict, families of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip, as well as a British-Israeli former hostage, condemned such action on Wednesday as a “shameful” reward for Hamas.
The denunciation, which echoed rhetoric from across the Israeli political spectrum, came after UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said at a UN confab Tuesday that his country will go forward with recognizing a State of Palestine in September unless Israel takes steps to end the war in Gaza and revive the peace process.
The UK followed France, which announced it would recognize the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September and has urged others to do the same (Paris did not set any conditions for holding off on that move).
After the UK, more Western countries said they were considering the move: Andorra, Australia, Canada, Finland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Portugal, San Marino, Malta and Slovenia. Meanwhile, the Arab League threw its weight behind a plan for reviving the two-state solution.
“Recognition of a Palestinian state while Hamas holds 50 hostages isn’t just a step away from peace, it is a blatant violation of international law and a dangerous moral and political violation that bestows legitimacy to horrifying war crimes,” said The Hostages and Missing Families Forum in a statement.
“The international community — if it wants peace — must join the efforts of the US and demand, before all else, the release of the hostages and then the end of the fighting,” said the Forum. The Forum, which represents a majority, but not all, of the hostages’ families, advocates a deal with Hamas to return all the hostages in exchange for an end to the war and the release of Palestinian security prisoners.
“Abducting men, women, children and babies, and holding them in tunnels against their will, amid starvation and physical and mental abuse, cannot — must not — be the grounds for establishing a state,” the families said.
“The recognition of a Palestinian state before the return of the hostages will forever be remembered as a shameful, antisemitic step that renders terror acceptable as a legitimate means of achieving political goals,” they declared.
The statement by the hostages’ families, many of whom frequently lambast Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, echoed Jerusalem’s reaction to the initiative.
Israeli officials have unanimously opposed countries unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state, arguing it encourages terrorism and deprives Israel of leverage amid efforts to secure the captives’ release.
British-Israeli ex-hostage Emily Damari, who was kidnapped by invading terrorists on October 7, 2023, and released in a deal with Hamas in January after 471 days in Gaza, took to Instagram to voice her anger.
“I am deeply saddened by Prime Minister Starmer’s decision to recognize Palestinian statehood. This move does not advance peace — it risks rewarding terror. It sends a dangerous message: that violence earns legitimacy,” she wrote in English.
In another post, she wrote: “Prime Minister Starmer is not standing on the right side of history. Had he been in power during World War II, would he have advocated recognition for Nazi control of occupied countries like Holland, France or Poland? This is not diplomacy — it is a moral failure. Shame on you, Prime Minister!!!!!!!”
The UK has pushed back against Israeli criticism. British Transport Minister Heidi Alexander, designated by the government to respond to questions in a series of media interviews, said “rewarding terror” was not the right way to characterize Britain’s plan.
“This is not a reward for Hamas. Hamas is a vile terrorist organization that has committed appalling atrocities. This is about the Palestinian people. It’s about those children that we see in Gaza who are starving to death,” she told LBC radio.
“We’ve got to ratchet up pressure on the Israeli government to lift the restrictions to get aid back into Gaza,” she added.
Starmer announced on Tuesday that the UK would recognize a Palestinian state in September unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and meets several other conditions, including recommitting to a viable peace process with the Palestinians.
In his announcement, the British leader said that the recognition of a Palestinian state did not amount to recognizing Hamas as a legitimate state actor.
Alexander, when asked whether recognition was conditional on the release of hostages, said that the government would review whether to go ahead with recognition in September and that Britain had long said Hamas must release hostages.
The UK’s announcement came days after France said, without appending any conditions, that it will recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September and urged other nations to do the same.
On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of multiple Western countries that have not previously recognized Palestinian statehood announced in a joint statement that they were now considering doing so.
Meanwhile, Arab nations signed onto a more Israel-critical plan for a two-state solution that nevertheless condemned Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught and called on the terror group to release its hostages, disarm, and end its rule of Gaza. It was the first time the entire Arab League had made such calls.