French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that France will recognize Palestine as a state, amid snowballing global anger over people starving in Gaza.

In an attempt to highlight the suffering of the Palestinians, stop the fighting and save the idea of two countries for two peoples, Britain and France have in recent days both taken decisive steps towards the recognition of a Palestinian state.

Major powers recognizing a Palestinian state now would signal to Palestinians that the most barbaric variant of terrorism pays the highest dividend and has indeed brought them over the line. Support for Hamas would soar, despite the group sparking a war that left much of Gaza flattened, hundreds of thousands displaced and tens of thousands killed.