On Monday, Australia joined the growing list of Western countries that have pledged to recognize a Palestinian state.

The country will formally recognize a Palestinian state in September at the United Nations General Assembly. Numerous Western allies, including France, the U.K., and Canada, have promised to do the same, citing concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

“Australia will recognize the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own predicated on the commitments Australia has received from the Palestinian Authority,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

New Zealand may also declare Palestinian statehood in September, New Zealand Prime Minister Chrisopher Luxon said Monday.

“New Zealand has been clear for some time that our recognition of a Palestinian state is a matter of when, not if,” Peters said.

The announcements come amid warnings from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that international support for a Palestinian state emboldens Hamas. Growing support for a two-state solution “encourages and rewards” terrorists.

“Because at the end of the day Hamas is sitting there saying, ‘We’re winning the PR war,'” Rubio said. “‘We’ve got all these countries lining up on our side of this argument. We’ve got leverage now. We shouldn’t agree to anything. We should keep this thing going.'”

“They don’t care about how many people die in Gaza.”

The Israeli security cabinet approved a plan last week to take military control of Gaza City, which could pave the way for a broader operation in the Gaza Strip. Israel aims to achieve decisive victory over Hamas during the operation, including by disarming the terrorist group, overseeing the return of the remaining 50 hostages, 20 of whom are believed alive, and establishing a governing body in Gaza that is not tied to Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.

“We want to liberate ourselves and the people of Gaza from the awful terror of Hamas,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, adding that “we don’t want to keep it. We don’t want to govern it. We don’t want to be there as a governing body. We want to hand it over to Arab forces.”

United Nations officials decried the plan and said it would lead to “further violations of international law.” The expanded operation will “likely trigger another calamity in Gaza, reverberating across the region and causing further forced displacement, killings and destruction, compounding the unbearable suffering of the population,” UN Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia, and the Americas Miroslav Jenca claimed.