JERUSALEM: Israel is considering annexation in the occupied West Bank as a possible response to France and other countries recognising a Palestinian state, according to three Israeli officials and the idea will be discussed further on Sunday, another official said.

Extension of Israeli sovereignty to the West Bank — de facto annexation of land captured in the 1967 Middle East war — was on the agenda for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet meeting late Sunday that is expected to focus on the Gaza war, a member of the small circle of ministers said.

It is unclear where precisely any such measure would be applied and when, whether only in Israeli settlements or some of them, or in specific areas of the West Bank like the Jordan Valley and whether any concrete steps, which would likely entail a lengthy legislative process, would follow discussions.

Any step toward annexation in the West Bank would likely draw widespread condemnation from the Palestinians, who seek the territory for a future state, as well as Arab and Western countries. It is unclear where US President Donald Trump stands on the matter.

IDF pounds Gaza City suburbs, claims killing of Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida

Israel, which is facing mounting international criticism over the war in Gaza, is angered by pledges by France, Britain, Australia and Canada to formally recognise a Palestinian state at a summit during the UN General Assembly in September.

The United Nations’ highest court in 2024 said that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, and its settlements there are illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible.

Israel argues the territories are not occupied in legal terms because they are on disputed lands, but the United Nations and most of the international community regard them as occupied territory.

Its annexations of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights decades ago have not won international recognition.

Thirty more killed in a day

Israeli forces pounded the suburbs of Gaza City overnight from the air and ground, killing 30 people, including 13 who tried to get food from near an aid site in the central Gaza Strip, destroying homes and driving more families out of the area.

Gaza health authorities said Israeli gunfire and strikes killed at least 30 people on Sunday, including 13 who tried to get food from near an aid site in the central Gaza Strip.

Residents of Sheikh Radwan, one of the largest neighborhoods of Gaza City, said the territory had been under Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes throughout Saturday and on Sunday, forcing families to seek shelter in the western parts of the city.

An Israeli official said Netanyahu’s security cabinet will on Sunday discuss the next stages of the planned offensive to seize Gaza City, which he has described as Hamas’ last bastion.

On Saturday, Red Cross head Mirjana Spoljaric said an evacuation from the city would provoke a massive population displacement that no other area in the Gaza Strip is equipped to absorb, amid severe shortages of food, shelter, and medical supplies.

Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 63,000 people, mostly civilians.

On Sunday, the Gaza health ministry said seven more people had died of malnutrition and starvation in the enclave, raising the number of such deaths to 339 people, including 124 children, since the war began.

Hamas spokesman

Israel claimed on Sunday its forces had killed the spokesman of Hamas’s armed wing in a strike on Gaza a day earlier.

Hamas spokesperson Abu Obeida has been eliminated in Gaza, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz wrote on X.

Israel has killed most leaders of Hamas during its 23-month devastating offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has not commented on the ‘killing’ of Abu Obeida.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2025