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Today's Paper | March 18, 2026

Published 20 Sep, 2025 08:39am

Portugal to officially recognise State of Palestine on Sunday: ministry

Portugal will officially recognise a Palestinian state tomorrow, Lisbon’s foreign ministry has said, ahead of a UN General Assembly where around 10 other countries are set to follow suit, AFP reports.

Britain, Canada and France are among the other Western nations planning to give a Palestinian state recognition at the assembly, which comes as Israel’s campaign in the Gaza Strip grinds on.

Lisbon had already announced in July that it intended to do so given the “extremely worrying evolution of the conflict”, as well as the humanitarian crisis and Israel’s repeated threats to annex Palestinian land.

“The ministry of foreign affairs confirms that Portugal will recognise the State of Palestine… the official declaration of recognition will be made on Sunday, September 21,” a statement on the ministry’s website said.

Around three-quarters of the 193 members of United Nations already recognise the State of Palestine.

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