Already under global pressure over the mounting toll from the war in the Gaza Strip, Israel slipped further into international isolation on Wednesday after three European countries broke with their main EU partners and decided to recognize a Palestinian state.
The move, described by an Israeli government spokesperson as "obscene," will have little practical impact either in the ruins of Gaza or the occupied West Bank. Squeezed by Israel, the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority in the West Bank struggles to pay its own civil servants.
But it follows a steady buildup of problems, from Washington's warnings over withholding arms if the war in Gaza continues and sanctions against violent settlers to accusations of genocide before the International Court of Justice and a possible arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the International Criminal Court.