Update 22nd September 2025:The UK, Australia and Canada have formally recognised the state of Palestine in a joint move ahead of the UN General Assembly. While largely symbolic, it signals growing international frustration over Israel’s offensive in Gaza and represents a rare public rebuke from some of its closest allies. Nor are these pronouncements exactly breaking new ground: 147 out of 193 UN members already recognise a Palestinian state. Palestine, too, will gain no new voting powers, even as more countries recognise its statehood. In 2012, Unga voted to upgrade Palestine from “non-member observer entity” to “non-member observer state”.