The U.N. General Assembly voted Thursday in favor of a Palestinian resolution to change their current U.N. observer status from "entity" to "non-member state." Prior to today, the Vatican was the only entity to hold that distinction.
Of the 193-nation General Assembly, 138 voted to approve the resolution and nine, including the U.S., opposed it. Forty-one nations abstained from the vote.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the U.N. body shortly before the vote.
Israel captured the region in the 1967 Mideast war then withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but still controls most access. Israel and the United States were strongly opposed to the resolution because it may conflict with a peace deal.