Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar warned Israel will respond in kind if the UK enforces sanctions over plans to expand illegal settlements in the West Bank, following British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband's announcement of a comprehensive policy reset on Israel. UK Jewish leaders have expressed concern the measures could fuel wider boycotts.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the IDF to prepare transferring civilian law enforcement in the occupied West Bank to police, following a week-long siege by settlers of Palestinian homes including one owned by a Palestinian American family. The move, described by critics as de facto annexation, comes after the U.S. ambassador condemned the settler violence as a 'horrific act of terror.'
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the allocation of 113 million shekels ($37 million) to develop and take control of more than 70 historical and archaeological sites across the occupied West Bank, expanding Israeli control over Palestinian heritage locations amid intensified settlement expansion.
Following a deadly clash near Tell in the occupied West Bank that killed four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered an extensive military operation in Nablus and accelerated legalization of unauthorized settler outposts.
