The French government expects Arab countries to condemn the Palestinian militant organization Hamas at a high-level UN conference in New York on Monday on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has said.

Arab countries will for the first time condemn Hamas and call for its disarmament early next week at a United Nations ministerial event in New York, a move meant to lure more European countries to recognize Palestinian statehood,

Barrot also called on fellow European countries to demand the removal of the financial blockade on the Palestinian Authority so it can receive 2 billion euros, he said, which it is owed.