Israel condemns Ireland, Norway and Spain for recognising Palestinian state

Ireland, Spain and Norway have announced they will formally recognise a Palestinian state on 28 May, triggering an immediate response from Israel, which said it would retaliate by recalling its ambassadors from Dublin, Madrid and Oslo, and withholding vital funds from the Palestinian Authority.

- Rory Carroll ,Sam Jones, Bethan McKernan

The three European governments made the announcements in coordinated moves yesterday morning that they said were intended to support a two-state solution and foster peace in the Middle East.

"We are going to recognise Palestine for many reasons and we can sum that up in three words: peace, justice and consistency," Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, told the parliament in Madrid, to applause. "We have to make sure that the two-state solution is respected and there must be mutual guarantees of security."

Ireland's taoiseach, Simon Harris, said Palestine had a legitimate right to statehood. "It is a statement of unequivocal support for a two-state solution, the only credible path to peace and security for Israel, for Palestine and for their peoples," he told a press conference in Dublin. "I'm confident that further countries will join us in taking this important step in the coming weeks."

In Oslo, Norway's prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, said there could not be peace in the Middle East without recognition, and that Norway would regard Palestine as an independent state "with all the rights and obligations that entails".

The Palestinian Authority - which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank - welcomed the announcement, as did Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since driving the authority out in 2007.

Israel launched a swift diplomatic counteroffensive to try to deter others from recognising Palestine, with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, denouncing the move as a "prize for terrorism".

"This would be a terrorist state. It would try to carry out the October 7 massacre again and again - and that, we shall not agree to," Netanyahu said.

The foreign minister, Israel Katz, ordered the immediate return of the Israeli ambassadors to the three countries for consultations and warned that further "severe consequences" could follow.