Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich calls for war in occupied West Bank

Key Points:

• Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for a military offensive in the occupied West Bank, urging Israel to "go to war" there and dismantle the Palestinian Authority as it did in Gaza.
• Smotrich described the Palestinian Authority as a "terror authority" and demanded the elimination of terror infrastructure, weapons, and tunnels in the West Bank, using the biblical terms Judea and Samaria for the area.
• The United Nations reported over 1,330 settler-related attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank from January to July 2023, marking the highest rate in two decades, with many incidents involving settlers armed and supported by Israeli soldiers.
• The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Smotrich’s remarks as part of broader Israeli policies of killing, displacement, settlement expansion, and land confiscation, warning that international silence risks escalating regional tensions.
• Concurrently, Israel imposed a military closure across the West Bank for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, while hundreds of Israelis entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound under heavy police protection, increasing restrictions in East Jerusalem.