For the first time since the Israel-Hamas war began nearly 21 months ago, key Arab nations — including Egypt and Saudi Arabia — have condemned the massive Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and they have joined the call for the Palestinian militant group to “end its rule in Gaza”.
The UN Declaration on the “Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution”, dated July 30, 2025, was a statement presented by the French Republic and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, co-chairs of at the UN High-Level International Conference on the Two-State Solution (July 28-30, 2025).
UN News reported: “The co-chairs urged countries to endorse the declaration by the end of the 79th session of the General Assembly, in early September, should they so wish.”
Even as it condemned Hamas, the declaration also hit out against Israel, saying: “We condemn the attacks committed by Hamas against civilians on the 7th of October. We also condemn the attacks by Israel against civilians in Gaza….”
As reports of mass starvation kept coming in from the Gaza war zone, President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron said just before the UN conference that he would endorse the two-state solution, and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer was also inclined to it. Israel denounced the statement by Macron, and the United States also expressed its anger.
An Associated Press report said: “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes a two-state solution and has rejected the [UN] meeting on both nationalistic and security grounds. Israel’s close ally, the United States, is also boycotting, calling the meeting ‘unproductive and ill-timed’.”
The AP report quoted Danny Danon, Israel’s UN Ambassador, as saying that “there are those in the world who fight terrorists and extremist forces and then there are those who turn a blind eye to them or resort to appeasement”.
With this as the backdrop, the UN Declaration of July 30 said that leaders and representatives of nations had gathered “at a historically critical moment for peace, security, and stability in the Middle East” and that the gathering “agreed to take collective action to end the war in Gaza, to achieve a just, peaceful and lasting settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.
The declaration said that this settlement was to be “based on the effective implementation of the two-State solution, and to build a better future for Palestinians, Israelis and all peoples of the region”.
Referring to the “terrifying human toll” of the Israel-Hamas war, the UN Declaration said that in the absence of “decisive measures towards the two-State solution and robust international guarantees”, regional peace would remain “elusive”.
Both Hamas and Israel were criticised in the declaration. It said: “We reiterated our condemnation of all attacks by any party against civilians, including all acts of terrorism and indiscriminate attacks, and all attacks against civilian objects, acts of provocation, incitement and destruction.
“We recall that the taking of hostages is prohibited under international law. We reaffirm our rejection of any actions leading to territorial or demographic changes, including forced displacement of the Palestinian civilian population, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.
“We condemn the attacks committed by Hamas against civilians on the 7th of October. We also condemn the attacks by Israel against civilians in Gaza and civilian infrastructure, siege and starvation, which have resulted in a devastating humanitarian catastrophe and protection crisis. There is no justification for breaches in grave violation of international law, including international humanitarian law, and we stressed the need for accountability.”
The “only way to satisfy the legitimate aspirations, in accordance with international law, of both Israelis and Palestinians” was to end the current conflict and implement the two-state solution, said the statement.
The war in Gaza must end now. We expressed support for the efforts of Egypt, Qatar and the United States to immediately bring parties back to implementing the ceasefire agreement in all its phases leading to a permanent end to hostilities, the release of all hostages, the exchange of Palestinian prisoners, the return of all remains, and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and reiterated our determination to act for the achievement of these objectives. In this context, Hamas must free all hostages.
UN Declaration
In early May 2025, the Security Council of Israel had approved a plan to gradually reoccupy entire Gaza and keep it under Israeli control indefinitely.
In light of such plans, the UN Declaration described Israel as “the Occupying power” in Gaza, and it pointed out that Gaza was “an integral part of a Palestinian State and must be unified with the West Bank”.
Hamas, which governs Gaza, must go, said the declaration. “Governance, law enforcement and security across all Palestinian territory must lie solely with the Palestinian Authority, with appropriate international support,” said the UN statement.
During the conference, the leaders and representatives “welcomed the ‘One State, One Government, One Law, One Gun’ policy of the Palestinian Authority” and pledged their support to its implementation.
In the context of ending the war in Gaza, Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, with international engagement and support, in line with the objective of a sovereign and independent Palestinian State.
UN Declaration
During the high-level UN conference, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres emphatically called for an end to the Israel-Hamas war, stating, “This conflict cannot be managed. It must be resolved. We must act before it is too late.”
