France will recognise Palestine as a state during the United Nations General Assembly in September in an attempt to end the war in Gaza, where people are starving, President Emmanuel Macron has said.

“In keeping with its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognise the State of Palestine,” Macron wrote.

“I will solemnly announce this at the United Nations General Assembly in September this year,” he added.

France, the largest and arguably most influential country in Europe to recognise a Palestinian state, after European Union members Norway, Ireland, and Spain indicated they would do the same.

At least 142 countries out of the 193 members of the UN currently recognise or plan to recognise a Palestinian state, but several powerful Western countries have refused to do so. They include the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

Israeli and U.S. leaders have denounced Macron’s announcement. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “strongly condemned” the move, saying that it “rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became.”

Netanyahu has relented allowing some food shipments, but

The United Nations’ humanitarian chief tells Al Jazeera that while Israel’s decision to allow more aid into Gaza is welcome, it is still just a “drop in the ocean” as severe restrictions continue to block life-saving deliveries.

Protesters, however, in Israel are calling on the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza and let in more aid

“We are coming with, as you see, bags of flour to demonstrate our, first of all, our anger against this inhumane policy, as well as to show that there is a majority within the Israeli society, Palestinian citizens of Israel, as well as Jewish, that they are strongly against what is happening right now in Gaza against the Palestinians.”

France’s announcement comes as European anger over Israel’s war on Gaza, in which Israel has killed 59,587 Palestinians and imposed severe restrictions on aid deliveries that have led to a hunger crisis of ever-greater proportions. 

At least 71 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since dawn on Saturday, including 42 aid seekers.

Israeli-imposed hunger killed five people in Gaza, as the total number of starvation deaths in the territory has risen to more than 127, including more than 85 children, Al Jazeera recently reported.