A French-Saudi resolution charting the road map towards Palestinian statehood that excludes Hamas from governance was adopted by the UN General Assembly ahead of the New York summit on September 22.
The resolution received 142 votes in favour, 12 abstentions and 10 against, including the US, Israel, Argentina, Hungary, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and Tonga.
The resolution was supported by all Gulf Arab states.
Originally adopted at a UN conference in July, the “New York Declaration on the peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine and the implementation of the two-state solution” sets out a 15-month plan to establish a demilitarised, sovereign Palestinian state.
Authority in the occupied territories would be transferred to the Palestinian Authority and supported by a temporary UN peacekeeping mission.
The resolution urges “collective action to end the war in Gaza” and calls for “a just, peaceful and lasting settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on the effective implementation of the two-state solution”.
It condemns Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, demands the release of hostages, and presses the group to disarm and relinquish control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority.
“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,” the text states.
The measure precedes a high-level UN summit in New York, co-chaired by Riyadh and Paris, where French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to formally recognise a Palestinian state.
The plan also calls for international recognition of Palestinian statehood and stresses that peace cannot be achieved by military means alone.
Britain, France, Canada, Australia and Belgium have all said they will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly this month, although the UK said it could hold back if Israel takes steps to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and commits to a long-term peace process.
Around three-quarters of the 193 UN member states already recognise the Palestinian state proclaimed in 1988 by the exiled leadership.
The US strongly opposes any move by its European allies to recognise Palestinian statehood.
Before the vote, Morgan Ortagus, senior policy adviser at the US Mission to the UN, said the declaration engaged in “disturbing moral equivalence” and failed to acknowledge that Hamas’s October 7 attacks were the reason for the war.
Ms Ortagus added that the draft before the General Assembly contained language endorsing the so-called right of return, which she said would mean “the demographic death of Israel as a Jewish state”.
Israel’s UN envoy Danny Danon denounced the text as “one-sided”.
“It does not designate Hamas as a terrorist organisation, and it dares to equate the release of Israeli hostages with the release of convicted terrorists,” he said. “Shame on you.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the resolution secured the international isolation of Hamas.
"For the first time today, the United Nations adopted a text condemning it for its crimes and calling for its surrender and disarmament," he said in a social media post.
After two years of war in Gaza, coupled with expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank and official calls for annexation, fears are mounting that a two-state solution is slipping out of reach.
“We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, may not attend the New York summit in person after the Trump administration said it will deny and revoke visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Palestinian Authority.
