Overview
- Israel approved steps to resume registering large tracts as state property, declassify land registries, ease settler purchases, expand civil enforcement into Areas A and B, and shift permit powers in Hebron.
- UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council that the moves constitute a gradual de facto annexation and would dangerously expand Israeli civil authority in the occupied territory.
- A coalition of 85 UN member states and international organisations issued a joint condemnation, with signatories including the EU, China and Russia, while India later added public criticism and the United States did not sign.
- Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected annexation accusations as factually baseless and described the changes as administrative civil and property measures, as Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar invoked a historic right to the land.
- Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he seeks to nullify the Oslo Accords and encourage Palestinian migration from the West Bank and Gaza, a stance rights groups and UN leaders warn heightens risks of dispossession and unrest.