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JERUSALEM: Israel is considering annexation in the occupied West Bank as a possible response to France and other countries recognizing a Palestinian state, according to three Israeli officials, and the idea will be discussed further on Sunday, another official said.
Extension of Israeli sovereignty to the West Bank — de facto annexation of land captured in the 1967 Middle East war — was on the agenda for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security Cabinet meeting late on Sunday, which was expected to focus on the Gaza war, a member of the small circle of ministers said.
It is unclear precisely where any such measure would be applied and when, whether only in Israeli settlements or some of them, or in specific areas of the West Bank, such as the Jordan Valley.

Additionally, it is unclear whether any concrete steps, which would likely entail a lengthy legislative process, would follow discussions.
Any step toward annexation in the West Bank would likely draw widespread condemnation from the Palestinians, who seek the territory for a future state, as well as Arab and Western countries. 
A spokesperson for Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar did not respond to a request for comment on whether Saar had discussed the move with his US counterpart Marco Rubio during his visit to Washington last week.
A past pledge by Netanyahu to annex Jewish settlements and the Jordan Valley was scrapped in 2020.
The office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 
The US said on Friday it would not allow Abbas to travel to New York for the UN gathering of world leaders, where several US allies are set to recognize Palestine as a state.
Israel, which is facing mounting international criticism over the war in Gaza, is angered by pledges by France, Britain, Australia, and Canada to formally recognize a Palestinian state at a summit during the UN General Assembly in September.
The UN’s highest court in 2024 said that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, and its settlements there are illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible.
Israel argues the territories are not occupied in legal terms because they are on disputed lands, but the UN and most of the international community regard them as occupied territory.
Its annexations of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights decades ago have not won international recognition.
Members of Netanyahu’s ruling coalition have been calling for years for Israel to formally annex parts of the West Bank, territory, to which Israel cites biblical and historical ties.

WASHINGTON: A post-war plan for Gaza is circulating within President Donald Trump’s administration that would see the US administer the war-torn enclave for at least a decade, the relocation of Gaza’s population and its rebuilding as a tourist resort and manufacturing hub, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.

The Washington Post said that according to a 38-page prospectus it had seen, Gaza’s 2 million population would at least temporarily leave either through “voluntary” departures to another country or into restricted areas within the territory during reconstruction.

Reuters previously reported there is a proposal to build large-scale camps called “Humanitarian Transit Areas” inside — and possibly outside — Gaza to house the Palestinian population. That plan carried the name of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, a controversial US-backed aid group.
Anyone who owns land would be offered a “digital token” in exchange for rights to redevelop their property, the Post reported, adding that each Palestinian who left would be provided with $5,000 in cash and subsidies to cover four years of rent. They would also be provided with a year of food, it added.
The Post said the plan is called the “Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust, or GREAT Trust,” and was developed by the GHF.
GHF coordinates with the Israeli military and uses private US security and logistics companies to get food aid into Gaza.

It is favored by the Trump administration and Israel to carry out humanitarian efforts in Gaza as opposed to the UN-led system which Israel says lets militants divert aid.

In early August, the UN said more than 1,000 people have been killed trying to receive aid in Gaza since the GHF began operating in May 2025, most of them shot by Israeli forces operating near GHF sites.
The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the plan to rebuild Gaza appears to fall in line with previous comments made by Trump.
On February 4, Trump first publicly said that the US should “take over” the war-battered enclave and rebuild it as “the Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling the Palestinian population elsewhere.
Trump’s comments angered many Palestinians and humanitarian groups about the possible forced relocation from Gaza.

Israeli forces pounded the suburbs of Gaza City overnight from the air and ground, destroying homes and driving more families out of the area as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet was set on Sunday to discuss a plan to seize the city.
The Israeli military has gradually escalated its operations around Gaza City over the past three weeks.

On Friday it ended temporary pauses in the area that had allowed for aid deliveries, designating it a “dangerous combat zone.”
On Sunday, the head of the World Food Programme said Israel’s designation would impact food access and put humanitarian aid workers in danger.
“It’s going to limit the amount of food that they have access to,” WFP executive director Cindy McCain said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” program.

A report released earlier this month by the global hunger monitor, Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), said that approximately 514,000 people — nearly a quarter of Gaza’s population — are facing famine conditions in Gaza City and surrounding areas.
Israel has dismissed the IPC’s findings as false and biased, saying it had based its survey on partial data largely provided by Hamas, which did not take into account a recent influx of food.