Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Saturday that recognising the State of Palestine before it is established could be counterproductive.
"I am very much in favour of the State of Palestine but I am not in favour of recognising it prior to establishing it," Meloni told Italian daily La Repubblica.
"If something that doesn't exist is recognised on paper, the problem could appear to be solved when it isn't," Meloni added.
France's decision to recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September drew condemnation from Israel and the United States, amid the war in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas.
France's bold decision to recognize the state of Palestine could help to shift conversations about the future of the Middle East, even if it's unlikely to have an immediate impact for people in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the shift by one of his country’s closer allies in Europe.
“Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became,” he said in a statement. “A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel- not to live in peace beside it.’’
On Friday, Italy's foreign minister said recognition of a Palestinian state must occur simultaneously with recognition of Israel by the new Palestinian entity.
A German government spokesperson said on Friday that Berlin was not planning to recognise a Palestinian state in the short term and said its priority now is to make "long-overdue progress" towards a two-state solution.