Portugal to officially recognize Palestine on Sunday

Portugal will officially recognise a Palestinian state on Sunday, Lisbon's foreign ministry said on Friday, ahead of a UN General Assembly where around 10 other countries are set to follow suit.

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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 against Gaza 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.