The United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to endorse the New York Declaration, a document that calls for a two-state solution, the release of hostages in Gaza and the disarmament of Hamas.
The Guardian reported that the measure passed on Friday by 142 votes to 10, with 12 abstentions. Israel, the United States, Hungary and Argentina were among the countries voting against. The declaration was drafted by France and Saudi Arabia in July and emerged from compromise negotiations in which Arab states agreed to condemn the October 2023 Hamas attacks on civilians in exchange for firmer UN support for a Palestinian state.
The vote gives diplomatic backing to a framework that seeks to define the end state of the Gaza war and the governance of Palestinian territory after the fighting stops. According to the report, the declaration says Hamas must release all hostages, cease exercising authority over the Gaza Strip and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, with international support and cooperation. It also points to a temporary international stabilisation mission that would be mandated by the UN Security Council.
The resolution’s supporters want to show that Israel and the United States are increasingly isolated in opposing a longer-term political settlement. The Guardian said countries such as Germany, which has historically been a strong supporter of Israel, backed the declaration. The vote also sets the stage for a separate UN conference on a two-state solution in New York during the run-up to the General Assembly high-level week.
The declaration’s language is unusually sharp for a UN text dealing with Hamas. It explicitly condemns the October 7 attacks and frames disarmament as part of the transition to a sovereign Palestinian state. That detail matters because Hamas has said it will not surrender its weapons unless such a state is established.
Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, dismissed the text as theatrical rather than meaningful diplomacy, according to the report. He argued that the measure would not advance peace.
The vote also comes as the broader diplomatic environment remains unsettled. The Guardian reported that some states are preparing formal recognition of Palestine at the upcoming conference, and that the declaration is intended to build momentum for that step. At the same time, the text leaves open the hardest practical questions: who would govern Gaza, how a stabilisation mission would be authorized and what kind of security guarantees could be made acceptable to both sides.
The result does not end the conflict, but it does create a clearer diplomatic benchmark. With the vote on record, supporters of Palestinian statehood now have a UN-backed text that combines condemnation of Hamas, endorsement of a two-state settlement and a framework for postwar governance.
For diplomacy, the significance is less about immediate enforcement than about coalition building. The size of the majority gives France and Saudi Arabia a platform to argue that a political settlement still has broad international support, even if the key actors on the ground remain far apart. What happens next depends on whether the declaration turns into practical pressure on the parties, or stays a symbolic marker of global frustration with the war’s trajectory.
