Canada has joined France and Britain in announcing plans to recognize a Palestinian state in September as international pressure builds on Israel over the ongoing starvation crisis and war in Gaza.

The recent push by several countries to recognize a state of Palestine is largely symbolic, but it carries diplomatic and potentially legal weight.

Malta told a high-level U.N. meeting that it will formally recognize the state of Palestine in September, joining France and the United Kingdom in stepping up pressure to end the nearly 80-year Israeli-Palestinian conflict.