Two out of five Germans are in favour of recognising Palestinian statehood, according to the results of a representative survey conducted by the opinion research institute YouGov on Friday.

According to the survey, 40 per cent of respondents said that Germany should recognise Palestine as a state, while 27 per cent were against and 33 per cent did not say.

In recent weeks, Norway, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia decided to recognise Palestine as a state, which triggered fierce protests from Israel.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared a fortnight ago that the German government was not planning to recognise Palestine as a separate state.

Divisions are deepening over the war in Gaza.

On May 24, the International Criminal Court, the highest court of the United Nations, ordered an immediate halt to Israel’s military offensive in the Palestinian city of Rafah in southern Gaza.

Israel has, however, continued its offensive on the city where 1.4 million Palestinians from elsewhere in Gaza had previously sought shelter, leading almost 1 million of them to flee again.

The European Union is now considering imposing economic sanctions against Israel.

According to the survey, around half (51 per cent) of respondents would be in favour of the EU imposing economic sanctions on Israel, according to the survey.

However, 26% said they disagreed with such sanctions completely or somewhat.

YouGov interviewed 2,295 people eligible to vote for the representative survey in Germany. The survey took place between May 31 and June 5.

(dpa/NAN)