French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to recognize Palestinian statehood immediately ended any chance of successful ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said.
Talks with Hamas “fell apart on the day Macron made the unilateral decision that he’s going to recognize the Palestinian state,” Rubio said in an interview this week with Eternal Word Television Network, a Catholic TV broadcaster.
The United Kingdom and Canada followed France’s lead shortly afterwards, prompting criticism by the U.S. and Israel.
The decisions to recognize a Palestian state come amid mounting international condemnation of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer describing the “suffering and starvation” in Gaza as “unspeakable and indefensible.”
Rubio said in the Thursday interview that those decisions showed Hamas that it was being rewarded for its actions. “If I’m Hamas, I’d basically conclude: ‘Let’s not do a ceasefire, we can be rewarded, we can claim it as a victory,’ ” Rubio said.
The U.S. pulled out of the ceasefire talks on the same day that France said it would recognize Palestinian statehood, with Washington’s special envoy Steve Witkoff saying Hamas was not acting in good faith.
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