Israel's far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has ordered preparations for the annexation of settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Smotrich, who is in charge of the settlements, said on Monday that he had instructed his department to "prepare the necessary infrastructure for applying sovereignty." It is unclear whether his long-standing desire to apply full Israeli law in West Bank settlements has any chance of being implemented soon. The Prime Minister's Office is yet to comment on Smotrich's order. However, earlier Monday, Gideon Sa'ar, Israel's new foreign minister, told a press briefing that the government had made no decision on the issue of annexation as yet, but noted it had been discussed during Donald Trump's first term as US president and added that "if it will be relevant it will be discussed again with our friends in Washington." Observers said Smotrich's announcement was likely motivated in large part by staking out political ground in Israel's fractious domestic politics. Still, it drew swift condemnation from the Palestinian Authority, whose foreign affairs ministry characterized such comments as "a blatantly colonial and racist extension of the ongoing campaign of extermination and forced displacement against the Palestinian people." Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority's presidency, said Smotrich's comments confirmed "the Israeli government's intention to finalize its plans for taking control of the West Bank by 2025" and said he held both the "Israeli occupation authorities" and the US administration responsible for allowing Israel to "persist in its crimes, aggression and defiance of international legitimacy and international law." Smotrich told the Knesset, or Israeli parliament, that US President-elect Donald Trump's victory in the US election "brings an important opportunity for the state of Israel." The "only way to remove" the "threat" of a Palestinian state, Smotrich added, "is to apply Israeli sovereignty over the entire settlements in Judea and Samaria," the biblical term by which Israelis refer to the West Bank. Israel has occupied the West Bank since seizing the territory from Jordan in 1967. In the decades since, it has expanded Jewish settlements in the area, which are considered illegal under international law, despite signing a series of peace agreements with the Palestinians in the 1990s. Around half a million Israelis live in West Bank settlements. Smotrich, himself a settler, has long called for Israeli law to apply in the settlements, and previously opposed the creation of an independent Palestinian state. The minister said he intends to "lead a government decision" that will allow Israel to "work with the new administration of President Trump and the international community to apply sovereignty and achieve American and international recognition." During his first term, Trump took several steps in Israel's favor. In 2017, he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, upending decades of US policy and international consensus. He also recognized Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which it captured from Syria during the 1967 war and is also considered occupied under international law. "I have instructed the Settlement Division in the Ministry of Defense and the Civil Administration to begin professional and comprehensive work to prepare the necessary infrastructure for applying sovereignty," Smotrich said on Monday. "In his first term, President Trump led dramatic steps, including... affirming the legality and legitimacy of settlements in Judea and Samaria," Smotrich added. "Alongside this, there were the Abraham Accords – peace for peace." Those accords, a set of agreements facilitated by Trump's first administration, saw Israel normalize relations with four Arab nations. "We were on the verge of applying sovereignty over the settlements in Judea and Samaria, and now the time has come to do so," Smotrich said. Hamas, the Palestinian militant group Israel is fighting in the Gaza Strip some 60 miles from the West Bank, seized on Smotrich's comments, saying they confirmed "the colonial intentions of the occupation" and refuted "the claims of those who are delusional about achieving peace and coexistence" with Israel. Another militant group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said it was "tantamount to an admission of the open war waged by the criminal entity against the Palestinian people." Israel has been waging its war in Gaza since the Hamas-led terror attack on October 7 that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 taken hostage. Since then, more than 42,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the strip, with the United Nations reporting that most of the dead are women and children. At the same time, another major escalation of violence has been playing out in the West Bank, where more than 700 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops since the war began, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The attacks are occurring amid a surge in Israeli settler violence across the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, where some settlers continue a campaign targeting Palestinian civilians and infrastructure. In both places, the violence shows little sign of abating, with Gaza hospital authorities on Monday reporting dozens of deaths from new strikes across the enclave. At least 10 people were killed in an Israeli strike on Al Mawasi, west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, according to Nasser hospital officials and the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS). The aid group said the strike hit a cafe housing displaced people. Multiple strikes in Nuseirat in central Gaza killed at least 20, according to Al Awda hospital, while in Gaza City, an airstrike killed at least two people, according to Al Ahli Baptist hospital officials. CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment on the strikes. The latest violence comes even as Israeli Foreign Minister Sa'ar suggested at his press briefing Monday that Israel was open to ending its military operations in Gaza. The foreign minister told the briefing that Palestinians would be able to return to their homes in the north when the war ends – though he cautioned this would not happen before Israel's objectives were achieved. He also appeared to rule out the possibility of creating a separate Palestinian state, saying this would pose a security threat to Israel. Asked about the possibility, he responded, "in a word: no." Meanwhile, Arab League and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) leaders meeting in Riyadh for the Arab-Islamic summit condemned Israel's measures in the occupied West Bank. In its closing statement, the summit called on the UN Security Council and international community to take action to "stop the escalating illegal Israeli measures in the occupied West Bank that undermine the two-state solution" and to "condemn colonial policies pursued by the occupying power to annex any part of the occupied Palestinian territory by force with the aim of expanding illegal settler colonialism." — CNN
