Belgium to Recognize Palestinian State at U.N. General Assembly and Sanction Israel

Belgium announced its intention to recognize a Palestinian state on Tuesday, joining a chorus of Western nations that have released similar statements as of late. Maxime Prévot, Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, said the recognition—which comes with certain conditions—will be reaffirmed at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly, due to begin in New York on Sept. 9. The recognition is set to be finalized “via a royal decree” but only once “the last hostage has been released” and Hamas no longer exercises any form of governance in the territory. Prévot also vowed that “strong sanctions will be imposed on the Israeli government” and “any antisemitism or glorification of terrorism by Hamas supporters will also be prosecuted more vigorously.” “This is not about sanctioning the Israeli people, but about ensuring that international and humanitarian law is respected by its government and acting in the hope of evolving the situation on the ground,” added Prévot. Read More: Israel’s Policies and Actions in Gaza ‘Meet Legal Definition of Genocide,’ Says Association of Scholars The Deputy Prime Minister said that 12 sanctions would be imposed on Israel, its government, and products coming from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Sanctions also include “the listing as ‘persona non grata’ in our country of two extremist Israeli ministers, various violent settlers, and Hamas leaders,” said Prévot, declining to specify the two Israeli ministers in question. TIME has reached out to the Belgian and Israeli Foreign Ministries for comment. The governments of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom united in June to announce sanctions against Israel’s Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a strong proponent of expanding the West Bank settlements, for “inciting extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights.” On Tuesday, Ben-Gvir rebuked Belgium over its intention to recognise a Palestinian State. “The self-righteous European countries that are being manipulated by Hamas—at the end they’ll discover terrorism on their own flesh,” Ben-Gvir is quoted as telling the Associated Press. Belgium has said its decision was made “in the face of the violence committed by Israel in violation of international law” as well as “taking into account its international obligations including the duty to prevent any risk of genocide.” The International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) published a resolution on Monday stating that Israel’s “policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide,” citing “Article II of the 1948 United Nations Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.” Israel has repeatedly denied accusations of genocide during the Israel-Hamas war, citing its right to defend itself. Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected the IAGS resolution, calling it “an embarrassment to the legal profession and any academic standard.” “It is entirely based on Hamas’ campaign of lies and the laundering of those lies by others,” claimed spokesperson Oren Marmorstein. Read More: World Leaders React as U.N.-Backed Report Confirms Famine in Gaza Israel is currently fighting an ongoing legal case at the International Court of Justice since it was accused by South Africa in December 2023 of committing genocide against the population of Gaza.  Belgium’s announcement also comes amid growing international concern regarding the malnutrition crisis in Gaza. A U.N.-backed food security body recently confirmed that famine is taking place in Gaza City for the first time since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. On Tuesday, activist Greta Thunberg and others set sail once again to Gaza on the Global Sumud Flotilla that departed from Barcelona, in an effort to bring aid to the territory. The flotilla is set to stop at Tunis, Tunisia’s capital, to join other boats on its journey to Gaza. Thunberg and other activists were detained off the coast of Israel in June and deported after attempting to reach Gaza. The Israel-Hamas war started after Hamas launched a terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing over 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages. Over 63,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, 361 of those deaths were the result of “starvation and malnutrition,” according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. In the absence of independent monitoring on the ground, the ministry is the primary source for casualty data relied upon by humanitarian groups, journalists, and international bodies. Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants and cannot be independently verified by TIME. Data from the IDF suggests a Palestinian civilian death rate of 83%.