Belgian Foreign Minister Maxim Brice said his government decided to recognize the State of Palestine to send a “strong message” to Israel, describing what is happening in Gaza as a “clear genocide.”

This came in a statement to Anadolu Agency commenting on the Belgian federal government’s decision to recognize the State of Palestine and impose sanctions on Israel.

On Tuesday, Brice announced on his account on the American platform “X” that his country will recognize the State of Palestine during the United Nations General Assembly sessions scheduled to open on September 9, and that it will impose 12 sanctions on Israel due to its violations against Palestinians.

He added: “I am happy this is happening because for moral and legal reasons, I felt we were obliged to reach an agreement within the ruling coalition in Belgium on this matter.”

He continued: “We had to send a strong message to Israel to stop expanding illegal settlements and refrain from obstructing aid to the Palestinian people.”

Since Israel began its extermination war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, it has intensified crimes including demolishing homes, displacing Palestinian citizens, confiscating their lands, and expanding and accelerating settlement construction in the West Bank, paving the way to hasten imposing sovereignty over it.

The Belgian minister pointed out that many women and children in Gaza suffer from hunger, calling it “completely unacceptable.”

Since March 2, Israel has closed all Gaza crossings, allowing only a very limited number of trucks loaded with humanitarian aid, plunging the strip into a famine that the United Nations has warned is rapidly worsening.

He stressed the necessity of implementing the two-state solution principle, saying: “If we want the two-state solution, as the name implies, we need two actual states. The current position of the Israeli government indicates that the two-state solution is in danger.”

He explained that his country, at the initiative of Saudi Arabia and France, decided to recognize the State of Palestine during the upcoming United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York this month, to send a “strong diplomatic message.”

Commenting on the massacres Israel has been committing in Gaza for two years, Brice said: “Honestly, in my personal opinion, this is a clear genocide. That is why I strongly pressured the Belgian government to make a clear decision, and that happened last night.”

With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, resulting in 63,746 Palestinian martyrs, 161,245 injured, most of them children and women, over 9,000 missing, hundreds of thousands displaced, and a famine that killed 367 Palestinians including 131 children.

In response to a question about whether the European Union exacerbates the Gaza crisis by avoiding sanctions on Israel, Brice said: “Clearly, we face many challenges within the European Union regarding reaching joint decisions on imposing sanctions on Israel and implementing them.”

He added: “Many countries take their stance based on their previous actions and choose not to impose sanctions on Israel. It is clear that without firm statements and decisions, the credibility of the EU’s foreign policy will completely collapse.”

He concluded: “That is why, as the European Union, we must have the absolute ability to send clear messages together.”