New Zealand will not recognise a Palestinian state at this time but remains committed to a two-state solution, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said.
“With a war raging, Hamas remaining the de facto government of Gaza, and no clarity on next steps, too many questions remain about the future state of Palestine for it to be prudent for New Zealand to announce recognition at this time,” Winston Peters said in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday.
“We are also concerned that a fochamasus on recognition, in the current circumstances, could complicate efforts to secure a ceasefire by pushing Israel and Hamas into even more intransigent positions," he added.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said in Auckland on Saturday that "recognition of Palestinian statehood is a question of when, not if".
New Zealand's position is out of step with traditional partners Australia, Canada and Britain who all recognised a Palestinian state on Sunday. The move aligned them with more than 140 other countries also backing Palestinians' aspiration to forge an independent homeland from the occupied territories.
A handout from the New Zealand government on Friday said that it hoped to recognise a Palestinian state at a time when the situation on the ground offers greater prospects for peace and negotiation than at present.
New Zealand's opposition Labour Party criticised the decision and said it would put the country on the wrong side of history.
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Four people were killed, including a child, in Ukrainian strikes on the Russian port city of Novorossiysk overnight, according to the governor of the Krasnodar region. Ukraine's drone forces commander, Robert Brovdi, said Russian military ships were destroyed in the attacks.
Wildfires have broken out in Türkiye’s Antalya province, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate as strong winds fuelled the flames.
A TV channel was struck during a live broadcast on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as Russian strikes on Kyiv killed at least three people, the city's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Meanwhile, drones hit civilian infrastructure in Russia's southwestern Saratov region.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) allegedly launched two ballistic missile attacks against a U.S. Navy warship over the past two days.
Overnight Iranian strikes on an air base in Jordan damaged multiple U.S. aircraft and left one without a wing, American media reported. Meanwhile, explosions were heard across parts of southern Iran according to local media reports.
Ukrainian forces struck a Russian oil refinery in Siberia and a seaport in Dagestan in the past 24 hours, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. He will meet Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday to discuss air defences for Ukraine over winter.
Eight Muslim-majority countries have launched a joint push for wider international action against trade linked to Israeli settlements, seeking to build momentum from new measures announced by the UK and other Western governments.
Saudi Arabia is facing a problem that goes beyond the latest Houthi attacks on its southern oil facilities. The kingdom is now dealing with pressure on energy exports at the Strait of Hormuz to the east and the Red Sea route to the west.
Two Azerbaijani sailors were killed on Wednesday when a foreign cargo ship they were travelling on was attacked by drones in the Black Sea, Baku's Foreign Ministry has said.
Iceland’s government plans to introduce legislation in February to permanently ban commercial whaling, potentially leaving Norway and Japan as the world’s only countries still allowing the practice.
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