President Emmanuel Macron's announcement that France would become the first Western member of the United Nations Security Council to recognise a Palestinian state in September has caused diplomatic ructions from the Middle East through Europe to Washington.

A joint statement called for an immediate ceasefire and said that "withholding essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable."

Macron shocked the world on Thursday when he broke ranks with his allies and announced that France would recognize Palestine as a nation-state.