Hamas said on Saturday that it would not lay down arms unless an independent Palestinian state is established. In a statement, the Palestinian militant faction said its "armed resistance ... cannot be relinquished except through the full restoration of our national rights,

Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK will recognise a Palestinian state if certain conditions were not met by Israel

The surprise declaration, endorsed on Tuesday by the 22 member nations of the Arab League, also condemned Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, which set off the devastating war in Gaza. The statement came at a United Nations conference in New York on a two-state solution to end the decades-long conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.