#UN, September 24. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, emphasized the need for meaningful steps to resolve the conflict in #Ukraine on a long-term basis, Deputy Spokesperson for the US Department of State Tommy Piggott said in a written statement.

According to the document, the US Secretary of State "reiterated President Trump’s call for the killing to stop and the need for Moscow to take meaningful steps toward a durable resolution" of the conflict in Ukraine.

The meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov began without opening remarks for the press and went on behind closed doors. It lasted about 50 minutes.

On July 10, Lavrov and Rubio held a nearly hour-long bilateral meeting on the sidelines of ASEAN-related events in Malaysia. In addition, Lavrov and Rubio held multiple phone calls in 2025. Furthermore, the heads of foreign policy departments led the Russian and US delegations at the February 18 meeting in Riyadh, which lasted approximately 4.5 hours. The Russian Foreign Minister and the US Secretary of State also participated in a "three-on-three" negotiation during the summit in #Alaska.

#Drone fired by Yemen’s Houthis wounds 22 in southern Israel, in a rare breach of missile defences

#Escalatorgate: White House urges probe into Trump UN malfunctions. U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to laugh it off Tuesday when an escalator and a teleprompter both malfunctioned during his United Nations visit -- but for U.S. officials it was no laughing matter.

The White House said an investigation had been launched into whether the moving stairway was stopped on purpose to humiliate the U.S. president, who later bashed the global body in his speech to the UN General Assembly in New York.

“If we find that these were UN and staffers who were purposefully trying to trip up, literally, trip up the President and the First Lady of the United States, well, there better be accountability for those people, and I will personally see to it,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News Tuesday evening.

A UN spokesman said the mishap happened because someone in front of Trump accidentally set off a safety mechanism on the escalator, causing it to shut down.

In a statement earlier in the day, Leavitt pointed to a report in the Times of London newspaper on Sunday saying that UN staff members had joked that they would turn off the escalators and “tell him they ran out of money” amid sweeping U.S. funding cuts.

Several other White House figures and conservative commentators also speculated about a plot against Trump.

Footage showed the 79-year-old president and First Lady Melania Trump getting on the escalator at UN headquarters, before it stopped with a lurch after a short distance.
‘A bad escalator’

Trump’s bad luck continued when his teleprompter was not working for the start of the speech.

“Whoever is operating this teleprompter is in big trouble,” said Trump.

He then went on to -- apparently jokingly -- link the two incidents to what he said were the UN’s multiple failings, including a lack of support for his peace efforts in a series of conflicts.

“I ended seven wars, dealt with the leaders of each and every one of these countries, and never even received a phone call from the United Nations,” Trump said.

“All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that, on the way up, stopped right in the middle. If the first lady wasn’t in great shape, she would have fallen, but she’s in great shape. We’re both in good shape.”

He added: “These are the two things I got from the United Nations, a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter. Thank you very much.”

But the United Nations insisted there were simple explanations for it all.

“A subsequent investigation, including a readout of the machine’s central processing unit, indicated that the escalator had stopped after a built-in safety mechanism on the comb step was triggered at the top of the escalator,” Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said in a statement.

A videographer filming the U.S. delegation’s arrival “may have inadvertently triggered the safety function described above,” the statement continued.

The escalator was “reset” and was soon back in operation, Dujarric earlier told AFP.

“Regarding the teleprompter, we have no comment since the teleprompter for the U.S. president is operated by the White House,” Dujarric said.

AFP reporters said escalators at #UN headquarters in New York were frequently out of order.

Activists say Gaza aid flotilla attacked by ‘multiple drones’. Organizers of a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying aid and pro-Palestinian activists said late Tuesday they heard explosions and saw multiple drones that targeted some of their boats, currently situated off Greece.

“Multiple drones, unidentified objects dropped, communications jammed and explosions heard from a number of boats,” the Global Sumud Flotilla said in a statement, without adding whether there were any casualties.

“We are witnessing these psychological operations firsthand, right now, but we will not be intimidated,” the statement said.

German human rights activist and flotilla member Yasemin Acar said in a video she posted on Instagram that five vessels had been attacked.

“We are carrying only humanitarian aid,” she said. “We have no weapons. We pose no threat to anyone. It is Israel who is killing thousands of people (and) starving a whole population.”

In an earlier video, Acar said the activists had “sighted 15 to 16 drones”, adding that their radios had been jammed as loud music could be heard.

One video posted by the flotilla’s official Instagram page showed an explosion it said it recorded from the Spectre boat at “01:43 GMT +3”.

In another video posted by the same page, Brazilian activist Thiago Avila said four boats had been “targeted with drones throwing devices” just before another explosion was heard in the background.

The Global Sumud Flotilla set sail from Barcelona earlier this month with the aim of breaking Israel’s blockade of Gaza and delivering aid to the territory.

It currently numbers 51 vessels, most of which are situated off the Greek island of Crete.

It had already been targeted in two suspected drone attacks in Tunisia, where its boat had been anchored before resuming its voyage towards Gaza.

Among its high-profile participants is environmental activist Greta Thunberg.

Israel said Monday it would not allow the boats to reach Gaza.

Israel blocked two earlier attempts by activists to reach Gaza by sea in June and July.

Israel has come under huge international pressure over its war in Gaza, which has sparked a dire humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory.

Last month, a body backed by the United Nations officially declared famine in part of #Gaza.

And on September 16, #UN investigators accused Israel of committing “genocide” in the besieged territory, nearly two years after the war erupted following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

Carney sees possibilities for #Canada as he wraps up trip to UN General Assembly.

“In every moment where there’s a crack, where there’s a rupture, there is possibility — and it’s our responsibility, it’s our opportunity as Canada in this moment to find it,” Carney told media Tuesday evening. “And after my visit to the United Nations General Assembly, I can assure Canadians that there is light, there are many possibilities.”

Carney earlier Tuesday listened to Trump’s roughly hour-long speech at the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly, where the president complained about the United Nations and preached about his “America First” policies that have abruptly upended geopolitics and sent shock waves to countries around the world.

“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” Trump asked as he criticized the institution for being full of “empty words.”

Trump said the United Nations has tremendous potential, “but it’s not even coming close” to living up to it. He was particularly aggrieved that there were issues with an escalator and his TelePrompTer ahead of his address.

“These are the two things I got from the United Nations: a bad escalator and a bad TelePrompTer,” he said.

The president later reassured diplomats concerned over the tone of his grievance-filled speech. Earlier this year, Trump ordered a review of the United States’ involvement in the United Nations, withdrew from its Human Rights Council and froze U.S. funding.

He told Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that he may disagree with the United Nations sometimes, but he is also “so behind it because the potential for peace at this institution is great.”

Trump, in his speech, also pushed back on U.S. allies, including Canada, who took part in a co-ordinated effort to recognize a Palestinian state. Trump said the move would reward Hamas for the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

Carney did not have a one-on-one meeting with the president. He did attend a reception on Tuesday night for world leaders hosted by the president.

The prime minister used the General Assembly to meet with CEOs and world leaders in an ongoing effort to diversify Canada’s trade and economic opportunities in the wake of Trump’s efforts to realign global trade through devastating duties. Carney met with leaders from Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean.

During a bilateral meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Carney noted that since the two had spoken on the phone, “our two countries, our officials, have begun to engage much more regularly, much more constructively.”

“We have an opportunity in a world that is changing rapidly,” Carney told Li. “We have an opportunity to bring that partnership back and bring it to a new level, across a range of areas.”

The prime minister has worked to restore diplomatic efforts that were strained when Canada — largely to align with the United States — hit China with targeted tariffs on key industries like steel and electric vehicles. In return, China targeted Canada with duties, particularly on canola, which has hit Prairie province farmers.

Before his departure from New York, Carney is set to attend a UN summit focused on a sustainable, inclusive and resilient global economy. He is also scheduled to meet with the prime minister of Jamaica.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2025.

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press

A mother stranded in Gaza City says she and her daughters are ‘waiting to die’.

Explosions shake the walls of the dim basement in Gaza City where Noor Abu Hassira and her three daughters are sheltering. They can’t see much through a small, raised window. But if the sounds of buzzing drones and booming airstrikes are any indication, Israeli forces are getting closer.

Abu Hassira is staying behind despite Israeli warnings to evacuate. She has debilitating leg injuries from an airstrike that destroyed her home at the start of the war and, like many in the devastated territory, she cannot come up with the $2,000 she says it would cost to move to southern Gaza and pitch a tent in a displacement camp.

While most Palestinians in Gaza City have fled south at some point in the 23-month long war, Abu Hassira has been largely bedridden — except for the 11 times she’s had to relocate within her city to keep safe from Israeli assaults.

Her husband is in an Israeli prison, and she and her young girls — Jouri, Maria and Maha — are among the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians still in Gaza City, which before the war had a million residents.

“It feels like we’re just waiting to die, I don’t really care that much anymore,” Abu Hassira wrote over text.

Israel says its offensive is aimed at destroying Hamas and freeing hostages taken during the attack that started the war. It says it is taking steps to mitigate harm to civilians.

If the Abu Hassira family could somehow make it to the south, their troubles would not be over.

“I’m afraid to live in a tent with my daughters. I’m afraid we will drown in the winter. I’m afraid of insects. How will we get water?” she said.
An airstrike destroyed their home

Eight months before the war, Abu Hassira and her family moved into an apartment in Gaza City. She worked as a medical lab technician.

Her husband, Raed, was a journalist for a media outlet suspected of links to Hamas. Abu Hassira said her husband was not a member of the militant group.

Jouri, their oldest, was in elementary school. Maria was about to start kindergarten. Maha was just a baby.

“We worked and saved for 10 years to have a comfortable, nice home — our dream house. Now it’s gone,” she said.

After Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 and abducting 251 people, Israel responded with heavy airstrikes across Gaza and a ground invasion. That December, the Abu Hassiras’ apartment building was struck.

The blast collapsed a concrete pillar that pinned Abu Hassira under the rubble, shattering her shoulders, back and legs and knocking her into a coma. Her daughters were also buried in the rubble, though all survived.
Israeli troops raided the hospital

Abu Hassira awoke at Shifa Hospital. Her daughter, Maria, lay beside her with a fractured skull.

Israeli forces had raided the hospital weeks earlier, accusing Hamas of sheltering there. Supplies were running low. It was packed with displaced families and doctors were preoccupied with a steady flow of casualties coming through the gates.

Her husband sent the other two girls to stay with an uncle so he could care for the mother and daughter at the hospital.

“He would change my diapers, my clothes,” Abu Hassira said. “I lay on my back for three months, and he took care of me, combed my hair, and bathed me.”

In March 2024, Israeli troops raided the hospital again, arresting scores of men, including Abu Hassira’s husband. He is now one of hundreds of Palestinian men Israel has rounded up during the war whose whereabouts and legal status remain unknown.

She hasn’t heard from him, but Addameer, a Palestinian legal aid group, said an attorney visited him in an Israeli prison last November.

Israel’s prison service, Shin Bet intelligence agency and military declined to say why he was arrested or where he was being held.

“Maha was just over a year old when they took her father away,” Abu Hassira said. “She’s never once said the word ‘daddy.’”
She feared her daughters would die

Israel’s military said it killed some 200 militants over two weeks of fighting inside the sprawling Shifa hospital. The World Health Organization said 21 patients died during the siege. Israel denied harming civilians.

Abu Hassira, who said soldiers told her to leave, fled the incursion with a single bag, leaving her wheelchair and most of her clothes and food behind.

The family spent the rest of the year moving from one place to another as Israel carried out raids in and around Gaza City.

“The hardest part is living at other people’s homes ... especially with small children, and everything is expensive. I had no clothes or belongings, so I had to use theirs,” she said.

In the fall of 2024, Israel largely sealed off northern Gaza, including Gaza City, launching major ground operations and heavily restricting humanitarian aid. Clean water was hard to find. They ate little more than bread. Jouri, her oldest, grew malnourished and sick.

“I felt weak, lonely, helpless,” Abu Hassira said. “I was terrified my daughters would die and I couldn’t do anything for them.”

A neighbor volunteered to take Jouri to a malnutrition program where the girl began to recover.

In January, a long-awaited ceasefire took hold, raising hopes that the war would wind down. Hundreds of thousands of people returned to Gaza City, Abu Hassira’s extended family was reunited, and Israel allowed humanitarian aid to flow in.
The war resumes

But Israel shattered the ceasefire in March, launching more airstrikes after halting imports of food, medicine and other goods — a complete blockade that would only be eased 2 1/2 months later.

In Gaza City, families like the Abu Hassiras are often without food, which costs 10 times what it did before the war: a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of sugar around $180, a kilogram of flour around $60.

Over 65,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, but U.N. agencies and many independent experts view its figures as the most reliable estimate of casualties.

In August, international experts determined Gaza City was experiencing famine. Weeks later, Israel launched an offensive to occupy the city, saying it was needed to pressure Hamas into releasing 48 remaining hostages, around 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive.

Abu Hassira has seen the evacuation leaflets dropped by Israeli aircraft. Many of her neighbors have packed up and left.

But she can barely walk, and a truck ride south would cost around $900. A tent would cost around $1,100, she says, and who knows where they would put it. The Israeli-designated humanitarian zone largely consists of crowded camps and demolished buildings.

Families who have moved to new grounds for the displaced have found them sparse and lawless, with armed gangs patrolling the area to demand rent.

For now, Abu Hassira says she and her daughters will remain in her parents’ basement in the once-upscale Rimal neighborhood, near the Mediterranean Sea. She says she can’t cook or wash, and spends her days sitting in a chair or lying down. She needs help to use the bathroom.

“I wish my daughters and I would die together before we are forced to leave,” she said. “We are exhausted.”

___

Julia Frankel and Sally Abou Aljoud, The Associated Press

Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Abou AlJoud reported from Beirut.

Chile puts forward ex-president Bachelet for UN top job. Chile on Tuesday put forward its former president Michelle Bachelet as a candidate to replace UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, whose term ends next year.

Addressing the UN General Assembly, Chilean President Gabriel Borick said Bachelet, 73, was the perfect choice.

A pediatrician by profession, Bachelet served as Chile’s only woman president twice -- from 2006 to 2010, and again from 2014 to 2018.

A member of Chile’s socialist party, she has also served as the executive director of UN Women and as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“Bachelet is not only a widely known and respected figure on the global stage, she is a woman with a biography deeply coherent with the values that inspire this organization,” said Boric.

The UN has never been led by a woman in its 80-year history, and has had only one secretary general from Latin America to date: Peruvian Javier Perez de Cuellar, who served from 1982 to 1991.

#Trump set to address UN General Assembly after allies support Palestinian state.

NEW YORK — U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to chastise American allies, including Canada, for a co-ordinated international effort to recognize a Palestinian state in his address at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday morning.

Canada joined the United Kingdom, Australia and Portugal on Sunday in recognizing an independent Palestinian state before world leaders arrived in New York City for this week’s 80th Session of the general assembly.

President Emmanuel Macron announced France would also recognize Palestinian statehood during a high-profile meeting at the general assembly Monday. Andorra, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta and Monaco added their voices to the chorus — announcing or confirming their recognition of a Palestinian state.

Prime Minister Mark Carney told world leaders during Monday’s meeting that the Israeli government is “working methodically to prevent the prospect of a Palestinian state from ever being established.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday said Trump disagreed with the move and accused the nations of rewarding Hamas for the Oct. 7 attack that set off the war in Gaza two years ago.

Leavitt said recognizing a Palestinian state is “more talk and not enough action” from U.S. allies. She said Trump would speak about it at the general assembly during his address at the UN.

Ahead of the general assembly, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked the visas of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and he was forced to give his address on Monday by video.

Trump’s Tuesday speech at the general assembly’s high-level debate is highly anticipated. The assembly’s theme this year is “Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights,” but Trump has pulled back America’s support for the UN and other multilateral institutions.

Trump ordered a review of the United States’ involvement in the United Nations, withdrew from its Human Rights Council and froze U.S. funding.

Last week, the United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that demanded an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages held by Hamas. American officials said the resolution didn’t go far enough in condemning Hamas.

Canada and European countries will also be watching to see what Trump says about Russia’s increased attacks on Ukraine and incursions into NATO allies airspace. The high-level general debate is taking place just days after the incursion of three Russian fighter jets into Estonian airspace and a week after Russian drones went into Poland.

Trump claimed last year during his presidential campaign that he could end the war in a day but it has continued to prove difficult, despite a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

Carney is scheduled to attend the high-level debate to hear Trump’s speech on Tuesday morning. He is set to co-chair an event with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy focusing on Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.

Carney will then have meetings with other leaders and CEOs.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2025.

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press

More experts see genocide in Israel’s wartime conduct in #Gaza.

The accusation is vehemently denied by Israel, which was established in part as a refuge for Jews after the Holocaust. Others have rejected it or said only a court can make that determination.

Even so, global outrage over Israel’s wartime conduct has mounted in recent months, as images of starving children emerged, adding to the humanitarian catastrophe of a 23-month war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and laid waste to much of Gaza.

A current offensive in the territory’s largest city further raised concern, with some of Israel’s European allies condemning it.

But the genocide accusation goes further, raising the question of whether a state forged in the aftermath of the crime is now committing it.

Israeli leaders brand the argument as veiled antisemitism, saying the country abides by international law and urges Gaza’s civilians to evacuate ahead of major military operations. They say Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war was itself a genocidal act.

In that attack, Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251. Forty-eight hostages remain in Gaza, around 20 of whom Israel believes are alive.

Israel’s ensuing operation has reduced much of Gaza to rubble and led to famine in parts. Israeli leaders have also expressed support for the mass relocation of Palestinians from Gaza, a move Palestinians and others say would amount to forcible expulsion.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 65,000 Palestinians have been killed. The ministry — part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals — doesn’t say how many were civilians or combatants, but says women and children make up around half.
The definition of genocide

Genocide was codified in a 1948 convention drawn up after the horrors of the Holocaust that defines it as acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”

According to the convention, genocidal acts include: killing; causing serious bodily or mental harm; and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction in whole or in part.
Experts and rights groups increasingly use the genocide label

In a report last week, a team of independent experts commissioned by the U.N. Human Rights Council concluded the war has become an attempt by Israel to destroy the Palestinian population in Gaza and constitutes genocide.

The group, which doesn’t speak for the U.N., said its determination was based on a pattern of behavior, including Israel’s “total siege” of Gaza, killing or wounding vast numbers of Palestinians, and the destruction of health and educational facilities. Israel says Hamas uses such facilities for military purposes. It lifted a complete 2 1/2 month blockade in May.

Many of the world’s leading experts on genocide have reached the same conclusion, with at least two dozen using the term publicly in the past year. Among them is Omer Bartov, a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University.

Early in the war, Bartov, who grew up in Israel and served in its military, argued Israel’s actions didn’t amount to genocide.

He changed his mind when Israel took over the city of Rafah, driving out most of its population. He now considers Israel’s actions “a genocidal operation.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called Israel’s conduct genocide this month. “This is not self-defense, it’s not even an attack — it’s the extermination of a defenseless people,” he said.

Two Israeli rights groups have also said it’s genocide. While the groups are respected internationally, their views are not representative of the vast majority of Israelis.

In December, Amnesty International used the term, citing similar findings as the U.N.-commissioned experts. “Looking at the broader picture of Israel’s military campaign and the cumulative impact of its policies and acts, genocidal intent is the only reasonable conclusion,” it said.

Two weeks later, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of intentionally depriving Gaza of water, saying that amounted to “an act of genocide.”
Others do not see genocide — or say it’s for a court to decide

Israel — where the Holocaust plays a critical role in national identity — casts such allegations as an assault on its very legitimacy. It says Hamas — which doesn’t accept Israel’s right to exist — is prolonging the war by not surrendering and releasing the hostages.

The Foreign Ministry dismissed the report by the U.N.-commissioned experts as “distorted and false.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel could have committed genocide “in one afternoon” if it wanted, implying it has acted with restraint. Experts say there’s no numerical threshold for the crime.

Responding to a question in August, U.S. President Donald Trump, whose country is Israel’s staunchest backer, said he didn’t think he’d seen evidence to support the accusation.

The Elie Wiesel Foundation, established by the Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor, also rejected the characterization.

“Israel’s actions in Gaza do not constitute genocide — they are legitimate acts of self-defense against an organization that seeks Israel’s destruction,” it said in a statement.

Norman Goda, a professor of Holocaust studies at the University of Florida, sees the use of the word as part of “a long-standing effort to delegitimize Israel,” saying the accusations are “laced with antisemitic tropes.”

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and others say it’s not for politicians or scholars to make the determination.

“We have always been clear that that is a decision for international courts,” then-British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Sky News in May.

The European Union has made a similar argument, as has the Auschwitz memorial, dedicated to the victims at the largest Nazi concentration camp, most of them Jews.
The top U.N. court has been asked to rule

In late 2023, South Africa accused Israel of genocide at the U.N.’s top court, the International Court of Justice. About a dozen countries have joined the case. A final ruling could take years.

To prove its case, South Africa must establish intent.

Lawyers for the country have already pointed to comments by Israeli leaders, including then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant saying Israel was “fighting human animals,” and Deputy Knesset Speaker Nissim Vaturi saying that Israelis shared the goal of “erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the Earth.”

Israeli leaders have downplayed the comments and argued they were taken out of context or directed at Hamas.

Even if it rules for South Africa, the court has no way to stop any genocide or punish perpetrators. Only the U.N. Security Council can do that — including through sanctions or authorizing military action. The U.S. has a long history of using its veto power there to block resolutions against Israel.

The International Criminal Court, meanwhile, has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, but neither faces genocide charges. They are accused of using starvation as a method of warfare, allegations they deny.
Israel faces increasing pressure

Israel faces increasing pressure, even from countries not calling its actions genocide. There have been calls for exclusion in the cultural and sports sectors, and protests in several European cities.

The European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, one of Israel’s staunchest backers, has called for partially suspending trade ties with the country. Germany and the U.K., both strong supporters of Israel, have suspended or restricted some military exports.

Goda, the academic who doesn’t think Israel is committing genocide, acknowledged the term has ramifications beyond the legal realm.

“‘Genocide’ is a legal term, but it also carries a very heavy political and cultural weight,” he said. “A country committing genocide can never outrun the legacy of that crime.”

Spain’s top diplomat dismisses Israeli leader’s vow of no #Palestinian state, saying it will happen.

Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday that “a real wave” of countries have recognized the state of Palestine since Spain, Ireland and Norway did in May 2024 and an overwhelming number support a two-state solution to the nearly 80-year Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The day that everyone will have recognized the state of Palestine, we will have to move forward,” he said at the United Nations. “I’m sure that we will find someday the right people for peace on the Israel side, in the same way that we have found it in the Palestinian side” in the Palestinian Authority.

Spain has been in the forefront in pressuring Israel to end the war in Gaza sparked by Hamas’ surprise invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, criticizing “the atrocities” and “endless killing” it is committing in the territory.

Albares spoke before a UN General Assembly meeting at its annual gathering of world leaders. At the meeting, the Palestinians expected 10 recent and new countries to formally recognize the state of Palestine, adding to the list of more than 145 nations that already have. France, Luxembourg, Belgium and others did so at the meeting, even after Netanyahu reiterated his vow that there will never be a Palestinian state. Weekend recognitions came from the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

The Spanish minister called Hamas “a terrorist organization” that doesn’t want a two-state solution. “So let’s put aside the extremists, and let’s look for the people that want a peaceful and secure coexistence.”

Spain is a vocal critic of Israeli action

Albares said Spain has staked out one of the strongest positions against Israel’s actions in Gaza because “we cannot accept that the natural way for the people in the Middle East to relate is through war, through violence.”

Israel has the right to peace, stability, security and a state and so do the Palestinians, he said. “I don’t see why they should be condemned to be eternally a people of refugees.”

Albares said that it was impossible for Spain, as a democratic country that believes in human rights, to have a “normal relation with Israel” while “this endless war continues.”

In recent weeks, Spain ratcheted up its opposition to Israel’s actions in Gaza. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the war a “genocide” earlier this month when he announced plans to formalize an arms embargo and block Israel-bound fuel deliveries from passing through Spanish ports. Netanyahu accused Sánchez of a “blatant genocidal threat.”

The following week, pro-Palestine protesters for whom the government expressed its support disrupted the final leg of an international cycling competition in Madrid due to the presence of a team with ties to Israel.

In the incident’s aftermath, Sanchez called for Israel to be banned from all international sporting events while the war continues. A diplomatic tit-for-tat ensued in which both countries banned ministers and Israeli leaders accused the Spanish government of being “antisemitic.”

Albares said that in pressuring Israel to end the war in Gaza, Spain is defending the principles that underpin the creation of the United Nations after World War II — peace, justice, human rights and human dignity.

Balancing demands from Trump

On another contentious issue, the minister defended Spain’s refusal to spend five per cent of its gross domestic product on defense as U.S. President Donald Trump demanded. At a NATO conference in June, the Sanchez government was the only NATO member to say it would not increase spending to that level.

“We are going to meet the targets and the commitments that are needed for Euro-Atlantic security within NATO,” Albares said. “We said in order to meet them we don’t need the five per cent, we can do it with 2.1 per cent. We have already reached the two per cent target.”

Citing Spain’s military deployments along Europe’s eastern flank including “a historical peak” of 3,000 soldiers among its contributions to European security, he said, “We are a very committed ally to transatlantic security.”

Albares said the U.S. is a “historic, natural ally” of Spain and Europeans. “Let’s keep doing it in the same way. But, of course, we need two for a tango,” he said. What’s clear, Albares said, is that Europe must increasingly take its destiny into its own hands whether it’s ramping up internal trade or security.

Looking at broader challenges from the severity of wars to poverty, climate change and artificial intelligence advancements with no guardrails, Albares said the only answer to address them is by all countries working together — the multilateral approach that underpins the UN mission.

“At the end,” he said, “cooperation is always much ... stronger than confrontation.”