Israeli Minister calls for West Bank war, annexation of Lebanon and Gaza areas
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has publicly called for the annexation of parts of Gaza and Lebanon, alongside a military campaign in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority has condemned these remarks as an explicit call for escalation and the destruction of prospects for a Palestinian state.
Why it matters
These statements represent a significant escalation in rhetoric from a senior Israeli official, potentially destabilizing regional security and complicating future diplomatic efforts.
Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Sunday (September 27, 2026) for the annexation of parts of south Lebanon and the Gaza Strip and for Israeli forces to "go to war" against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
"I would like us to annex at least as far as the yellow line in Gaza and as far as the Litani River in Lebanon... because if a war ends along the same lines where it began, what will deter the enemy from going to war again," Mr. Smotrich said in a podcast for Israeli news site Ynet .
The "yellow line" demarcates the area of Gaza already under Israeli military control after the recent war triggered by Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
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