Friday, the Portuguese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Portugal will recognize the state of Palestine on Sunday.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal Paulo Rangel had previously declared during his visit to the United Kingdom that Portugal planned to recognize the state of Palestine, and now the announcement of recognizing Palestine as a state has been made.
It should be mentioned that during the next session of the United Nations General Assembly this month, several countries will officially announce recognition of Palestine as a state, and Portugal will also officially declare its recognition of Palestine as a state.
Until now, Portugal had adopted a cautious approach on this subject compared to certain other members of the European Union and had underlined the need for a unified position within the EU.
Read: The United States warns the recognition of Palestine allies strengthens Hamas’ confidence
Unlike neighboring Spain, whose left -wing government recognized the Palestinian state in May 2024 alongside Ireland and Norway and called on other EU countries to do the same, Portugal has adopted a more cautious approach, claiming that it first wanted to find a common position with other EU countries.
Only a handful of the 27 members of the European Union recognize Palestine as a state, mainly of former communist countries as well as Sweden and Cyprus.
The United Nations General Assembly approved de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine in November 2012 by improving its status as an observer to the global organization to “the non -member state” of “the entity”.
Find out more: Belgium to recognize the Palestinian State in the United Nations General Assembly
Belgium had announced that it would recognize a Palestinian state in the United Nations General Assembly, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maxime Prevot, on September 2, adding to international pressure on Israel after similar movements of Australia, Great Britain, Canada and France.
The War of Israel against Gaza killed at least 65,174 people, also mainly civilians, according to figures from the Ministry of Health in the territory that the United Nations consider reliable.
