Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Sunday (November 16, 2025) to oppose any attempt to establish a Palestinian state, a day before the U.N. Security Council planned to vote on a U.S.-drafted resolution on Gaza that leaves the door open to Palestinian independence.

Mr. Netanyahu has long asserted that creating a Palestinian state would reward Hamas and eventually lead to an even larger Hamas-run state on Israel’s borders. But as the U.S. attempts to push forward with its Gaza ceasefire proposal, he faces heavy international pressure to show flexibility.

The Security Council is expected to vote on a U.S. proposal for a U.N. mandate that would establish an international stabilization force in Gaza despite opposition from Russia, China and some Arab countries.

Hamas and Palestinian factions warned Sunday (November 16, 2025) against the U.S. proposal, calling it an attempt to impose an international mandate on Gaza that is biased toward Israel and deprives Palestinians of the right to manage their own affairs. In a statement, the groups said the force must not involve Israel and must be under direct U.N. supervision.

The statement also rejected any reference in the U.S. proposal to disarming Gaza. Mr. Netanyahu on Sunday (November 16, 2025) noted the proposal calls for Gaza to be demilitarized and Hamas to be disarmed, telling his Cabinet: “Either this will happen the easy way, or it will happen the hard way.”

The U.S., under pressure from countries expected to contribute troops to the force, had revised the resolution with stronger language about Palestinian self-determination. It now says that President Donald Trump’s plan may create a “credible pathway” to Palestinian statehood. A rival Russian proposal uses even stronger language in favour of Palestinian statehood.

The creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel is seen internationally as the only realistic way to resolve the conflict for the long term.

Mr. Netanyahu’s hard-line governing partners have urged him to take a tough stand on the calls for Palestinian independence. Mr. Netanyahu said Sunday (November 16, 2025) that Israel’s opposition to a Palestinian state has “not changed one bit” and is not threatened by external or internal pressure.

“I do not need affirmations, tweets or lectures from anyone,” he said.

That pressure increased during the war in Gaza. In September, after the U.K., Australia and Canada formally recognised a Palestinian state, Mr. Netanyahu blasted the countries for proffering a “prize” to Hamas.

The Israeli leader also made his first public comments about a surge in attacks by Jewish settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, saying the violence was the work of a small minority. Palestinians and human rights groups say the violence has been widespread and accused the government of turning a blind eye.

Palestinian health officials said Sunday (November 16, 2025) that a 19-year-old Palestinian man became the seventh person to be killed in the West Bank in the past two weeks by Israeli fire. The spike in violence has been accompanied by a surge in settler attacks.

The Israeli military said it was operating in Nablus, in the northern West Bank, early Sunday (November 16, 2025) when the man hurled an explosive device at soldiers, who fired in response.

The military later said its forces had killed someone in the Far’a area of the West Bank who “attempted to harm them,” with no details. There was no immediate Palestinian comment.

In addition to Sunday’s (November 16, 2025) clashes, the Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank said six teenagers — ages 15 to 17 — were shot and killed by Israeli fire in four separate shootings over the past two weeks.

On Sunday (November 16, 2025), Mr. Netanyahu cast settler violence as the work of a few extremists. But Palestinians and rights groups say the violence is carried out by settlers with impunity from Israel’s far-right government. Settler leaders and their allies hold top positions in Mr. Netanyahu’s government, including the Cabinet Ministers who oversee the national police force and West Bank settlement policies.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week said there’s concern that the events in the West Bank “could undermine what we’re doing in Gaza.”

U.N. Human Rights Commissioner spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan has said the U.N. recorded more than 260 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank in October, more than in any month since 2006.

Israel’s military said its troops on Sunday (November 16, 2025) killed someone who crossed into territory they control in northern Gaza and “posed an immediate threat to them.”

In Khan Younis in southern Gaza, families in the crowded Muwasi tent camp picked their way along flooded streets after winter’s first strong rainfall that started on Friday (November 14, 2025). Water dripped through torn tents onto belongings. Children splashed barefoot or in sandals, or tried to ride bikes.

“Our bathroom is made of fabric. Everything is made of fabric, and it’s worn out from the sun, so the rain pours down on us. It’s indescribable suffering,” said one displaced Palestinian, Abdallah Abu Quta.

Published – November 17, 2025 04:58 am IST

The Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution meeting chaired by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 30, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Saudi Press Agency/Handout via Reuters

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday (October 30, 2024) hosted the first meeting of a new “international alliance” to press for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Unveiled last month on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the “International Alliance to Implement the Two-State Solution” brings together nations from the Middle East, Europe and beyond.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said nearly 90 “states and international organisations” were taking part in the two-day meeting in Riyadh.

“A genocide is happening with the goal of evicting the Palestinian people from their land, which Saudi Arabia rejects,” he said, describing the humanitarian situation as “catastrophic” and denouncing the “complete blockade” of northern Gaza.

“The Riyadh meeting was expected to focus on humanitarian access, the embattled UN agency for Palestinian refugees and measures to advance a two-state solution,” diplomats said.

“The European Union was set to be represented by Sven Koopmans, the special representative for the Middle East peace process,” diplomats said.

The United States, Israel’s top military backer, sent Hady Amr, the State Department’s special representative for Palestinian affairs.

The Gaza war has revived talk of a “two-state solution” in which Israeli and Palestinian states would live in peace side by side, though analysts say the goal seems more unattainable than ever.

The hard-right Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains implacably opposed to Palestinian statehood.

Arab-Islamic summit

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter and custodian of Islam’s two holiest sites, paused U.S.-brokered talks on recognising Israel after the Gaza war broke out last year between Palestinian militants Hamas and Israel.

In September, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said an “independent Palestinian state” was a condition for normalisation.

Prince Faisal reiterated that position on Wednesday (October 30, 2024).

The Saudi Foreign Ministry on Wednesday (October 30, 2024) also called for “a joint Arab-Islamic follow-up summit” to be held on November 11 focused on “the continued Israeli aggression on the Palestinian territories and the Lebanese Republic, and current developments in the region”.

In November last year, Saudi Arabia hosted a joint meeting of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation that condemned Israeli forces’ “barbaric” actions in Gaza.

Ireland, Norway and Spain announced their recognition of a Palestinian state in May, prompting an angry response from Israel.

Slovenia soon joined them, bringing the number of countries that recognise a Palestinian state to 146 out of the 193 United Nation member states.

The Gaza war was triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 last year, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 43,163 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.

Palestinians carry mock large keys during a mass ceremony to commemorate the Nakba Day, Arabic for catastrophe, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Wednesday, May 15, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

As Israel keeps up its campaign against Hamas, Arab leaders are mapping out ways to support post-war Gaza, placing one major condition on their involvement: a pathway to Palestinian statehood.

Major obstacles lie ahead in gaining the support of both U.S. President Joe Biden and the Israeli government, which is currently led by hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a staunch opponent of the two-state solution.

Also read: Israel’s Netanyahu rejects UN backing of Palestinian statehood bid

But the Arab quintet of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt have made clear that their financial and political support, which would be crucial to the future of the shattered Gaza Strip, comes at a cost.

“We have coordinated on this closely with the Palestinians. It needs to be truly a pathway to a Palestinian state,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told a World Economic Forum meeting in Riyadh last month.

“Without a real political pathway… it would be very difficult for Arab countries to discuss how we are going to govern.”

It is not the first time Arab leaders have come together to chart a path towards a two-state solution, the cherished goal that they believe could defuse tensions in West Asia and help usher in a period of prosperity.

But with the Israel-Hamas war hobbling regional economies and spilling over into neighbouring countries, there is both urgency and opportunity.

Last month, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, European and Arab Foreign Ministers met to discuss how to advance the two-state solution.

Gaza will also be top of the agenda when leaders from the 22-member Arab League meet in Bahrain on Thursday.

Two goals

Arab countries are “pressuring the United States to achieve two things: establish a Palestinian state and recognising it in the United Nations”, said an Arab diplomat who is familiar with the talks.

“What is currently hindering these intensive efforts is the continuation of the war and Netanyahu’s intransigent rejection,” said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Arab leaders “have been trying to work with the Biden administration to mutually support the so-called day after” plan, said Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at Britain’s Chatham House think tank.

Central to their plan is the reform of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to clear the way for a reunified administration in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The PA has had almost no influence over Gaza since Hamas militants wrestled control of the territory from the Fatah movement of President Mahmud Abbas in 2007.

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