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 .
Mr. The far-right leader also pushed for annexation of areas of south Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, which are also under the control of the Israeli military. The line demarcates the areas under the control of Hamas and Israel. Smotrich’s far-right party advocates the annexation of the entire West Bank.
Smotrich is the leader of a far-right party that advocates the annexation of the entire West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967. Earlier reporting noted: Israel minister’s call for war, E1 settlement plan: A look at the West Bank crisis Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday called for a war against Palestinians in the West Bank , which it has occupied since 1967.
Earlier reporting noted: The Israeli minister said he wanted Israel to annex “as far as the Yellow Line in Gaza and as far as the Litani River in Lebanon”. Earlier reporting noted: Giving his reason behind the call for war and annexation, Smotrich said, “If a war ends along the same lines where it began, what will deter the enemy from going to war again.
Various Israeli political leaders, both in the ruling right-wing coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and in the opposition, have come out against the establishment of a Palestinian state. The Palestinian Authority condemned Mr. Smotrich’s call for war in the West Bank. Mr. Netanyahu has dismissed settlers’ violence against Palestinians, saying it is perpetrated by a “handful of rioters.
At least 1,110 Palestinians, including a number of militants, have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian official figures. More than 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements, which are illegal under international law, in the Palestinian territory among some three million Palestinians.
“His statements are an explicit call for escalation, annexation and displacement, aimed at undermining the prospects of an independent Palestinian state,” the Ramallah-based authority said in a statement.
