Israel News, Sunday, 21.09.2025  
  The U.K., Australia and Canada formally recognized a Palestinian state as part of “an international effort for a two-state solution,” in which Hamas would play no part, prompting Israel’s far-right ministers to call on PM Netanyahu to immediately enforce Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank. Netanyahu said “no Palestinian state will arise west of the Jordan River.” The Hamas-run Health Ministry reported that 71 Palestinians were killed by IDF fire in the past 24 hours. Over 400 Jewish health professionals from the U.S., U.K. and Israel signed an open letter calling to “end the genocide in Gaza.” Scotland’s First Minister called on the U.K. government to impose more sanctions on Israel. 

 ■ PALESTINIAN STATE: The U.K., Australia and Canada formally recognized a Palestinian state as part of what they called “an international effort for a two-state solution,” stressing that Hamas can have no role in the future state.

• Australian PM Anthony Albanese said that Australia recognized “the legitimate and long-held aspirations of the people of Palestine to a state of their own” but that “Hamas must have no role in Palestine.” U.K. PM Keir Starmer said that “Hamas can have no future, no role in government, no role in security,” adding that Hamas must release the hostages it is holding. Canadian PM Mark Carney said its recognition is based on commitments by the Palestinian Authority to implement governance reforms and to hold elections in 2026 in which Hamas will play no part.
  
• Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas praised a “historic and courageous step.” Palestinian Authority Foreign Affairs Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin said the recognition was “not symbolic. It is a practical, tangible, irreversible step that countries must take if they are invested in preserving the two-state solution.”
  
• PM Netanyahu said he would give his “response to the latest attempt to impose a terror state in the heart of our land” after his return from the U.S. next week. Netanyahu argued that the leaders of the U.K., Canada and Australia are “giving a huge reward to terror,” adding that “it will not happen. No Palestinian state will arise west of the Jordan River.“
  
• Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said “the only response to this anti-Israel step is sovereignty” over the West Bank “and permanently removing the foolish idea of a Palestinian state from the agenda.” Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said he intends to submit a proposal at the upcoming cabinet meeting for the “immediate application of Israeli sovereignty” over the West Bank.
  
• Israel’s Foreign Ministry said “This declaration does not promote peace, but on the contrary – further destabilizes the region and undermines the chances of achieving a peaceful solution in the future,” noting that Hamas leaders called the recognition “the fruits of the October 7 massacre.”
  
• Yair Golan, the head of the left-wing Democrats party, posted on X that the “unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state is a severe diplomatic failure of Netanyahu” and “a destructive move for Israel’s security,” and called for “a strong diplomatic hand that ends the war, frees the hostages, and guarantees security for generations.” Golan added that a demilitarized Palestinian state could be part of a broader regional arrangement led by Israel that protects its security interests.

“As Netanyahu prepares Israel’s people to live in isolation, the surprising bottom line is that after two years of a bloody war with no diplomatic horizon, a long series of aggressive statements and gestures, and insults or disdain toward its neighbors and partners, the world is still far from burning its bridges with Israel. The UN General Assembly will give Netanyahu another opportunity to make amends. It’s doubtful that he will take advantage of it” – Liza Rozovsky

■ GAZA: The Hamas-run Health Ministry reported that 71 Palestinians were killed by IDF fire, five while awaiting aid, in the past 24 hours. According to the ministry, four people died as a result of hunger or malnutrition on Sunday, and 65,283 people have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the war.

• Over 400 Jewish health professionals and public health leaders from the U.S., U.K. and Israel signed an open letter on Friday calling to “end the genocide in Gaza” and urging medical institutions to contribute to the Strip’s restoration. “As health professionals, we are bound by ethical principles that transcend politics and borders,” the letter said, adding that “too many of our colleagues and institutions have yet to dissent… To be silent is to be complicit.”
  
• The IDF said that UN representatives informed them that Hamas gunmen fired at a UN team working to open a new route for aid trucks from the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza to the humanitarian area in the south of Gaza. According to the IDF, the UN representatives said armed militants took their vehicles and used them to set up a sand barrier on the route “to prevent future aid truck movement to the humanitarian area.”

■ ISRAEL: The IDF said two rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel, with one intercepted and another falling in open terrain, after sirens were activated in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod.

■ HOSTAGES/CEASE-FIRE: Democrats Party leader Yair Golan said that Israel should have ensured that Egypt and the UAE, “who know how to talk to Hamas,” were involved in negotiations for the release of the hostages instead of Qatar.

“In the face of mounting condemnation and looming international sanctions, Netanyahu has refused to halt Israel’s onslaught. Now, to keep the war going – whether driven by narrow political survival, a megalomaniacal messianism or some combination – he is proposing nothing less than a total break with the most fundamental principle of Zionist foreign policy” – Joshua Leifer

■ U.K.: Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney called on the U.K. government to impose more sanctions on Israel, including withdrawing from the U.K.-Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement, ending all military cooperation with Israel while the Gaza war persists, ensuring that the implementation of the Strategic Defense Review does not support Israel, and an end to all defense exports to Israel.

■ LEBANON: Lebanon’s Health Ministry said at least five people were killed, including three children, in an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon. 

 Israel declared war after Hamas killed at least 1,200 Israelis and wounded more than 3,300 on October 7. In Gaza, the Hamas-controlled health ministry reports that at least 65,283Palestinians have been killed. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad hold 48 hostages, soldiers and civilians, dead and alive, including foreign nationals.

The war erupted after 10 months of an intense domestic political and social crisis, due to legislation promoted by the Netanyahu government aimed at dramatically weakening Israel’s judiciary and the prime minister’s corruption trial, amid an escalation of violence between West Bank Palestinians and Israeli settlers, the latter empowered by Israel’s most right-wing government ever.