Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has criticised the growing international announcements to recognise Palestinian statehood, calling it “shocking” and a “reward” for Hamas after the attacks it led on Israel on October 7, 2023, Al Jazeera reports.

In a statement on X, Saar said the call for Palestinian statehood was coming at a time when there were still captives held in Gaza, and he alleged that the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank continued to “fund terrorism and persists in incitement against Israel”.

“For the State of Israel, this is a security and even existential issue of the highest order. A Palestinian state would be a Hamas state. It would be the frontline jihadist stronghold, a few kilometres from our population centres, in the continuation of the campaign against Israel,” Saar wrote.