Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for Israel to launch a full-scale military campaign in the occupied West Bank modelled on its war in Gaza, telling the Israeli outlet Ynet that the country needs “to go to war in Judea and Samaria, to do there what we did in Gaza, to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, which is a terror authority. ” The remarks, made roughly a month before Israel’s general elections, go beyond his previous rhetoric by explicitly calling for the elimination of the Palestinian Authority as a governing body in the West Bank, alongside the dismantling of what he described as terror infrastructure, weapons stockpiles and tunnel networks in the territory. In the same set of comments, Smotrich also called for Israel to annex the roughly 58 percent of the Gaza Strip currently under Israeli military control, as well as territory in southern Lebanon extending to the Litani river, positions that go considerably further than official Israeli government policy has stated publicly to date. Human rights groups reacted sharply, with Adalah lawyer Suhad Bishara saying the language amounted to “a public declaration of intent to commit war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide,” while the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the remarks as “an explicit invitation to escalate the aggression” against Palestinians.
Analysts noted that while the timing suggests the comments are partly aimed at shoring up support from Israel’s religious-nationalist bloc ahead of the vote, Smotrich has a record of using his ministerial authority to advance settlement expansion and policies that have already displaced Palestinian communities in parts of the West Bank, meaning the proposals reflect direction he has pursued in practice rather than campaign rhetoric alone. The comments come against the backdrop of the Gaza war, which by recent estimates has killed approximately 74,000 Palestinians since fighting began in October 2023 and left much of the territory in ruins. The Israeli government has not distanced itself from Smotrich’s remarks, and it remains unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office will issue any formal response. Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party has consistently pushed for a harder line in the West Bank as part of its coalition demands, and the minister has previously called for extending Israeli sovereignty over Jewish settlements there.
His latest comments have added a new flashpoint to already tense relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which has cooperated with Israeli security forces in parts of the West Bank even as settler violence and military raids have intensified this year. The statement adds further uncertainty to already fragile efforts by international mediators to stabilise the broader Gaza ceasefire framework.