The Latest Breaking News from Bezalel Smotrich

Israel's finance minister backed plans on Thursday to build 3,400 homes in a particularly contentious area of the occupied West Bank, calling for the territory's annexation in response to several countries' plans to recognise a Palestinian state.

Finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has said he believes E1 plan will ‘bury the idea of a Palestinian state’

IN FULL

100 charities and aid agencies say Israel’s access rules block much-needed supplies

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new military plan for Gaza faces growing criticism abroad, opposition is also building in Israel, with hostage families calling for a nationwide shutdown on Sunday. But in the Israeli settlement of Itamar, in the occupied West Bank, support for the war remains firm.

The far-right minister says he will approve more than 3,000 new homes in the E1 area project.

This outrageous landgrab is ethnic cleansing in plain sight, says Nimer Sultany of Soas University of London, a Palestinian citizen of Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that his new plan to expand the war and take control of Gaza City was "the best way to end the war", defying growing calls to stop the fighting.

Israel's far right pressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to go harder against Hamas, ahead of a UN Security Council meeting Sunday on the premier's bid to conquer Gaza City.