ÃÛÌÒTV

Israel’s security cabinet has announced  to “capture” the whole of the Gaza Strip. The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on May 5 the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would remain in the territory indefinitely and take over the administration of humanitarian aid. What his government is referring to as its latest  is likely to result in Israel occupying all of Gaza.

This development should come as no surprise, given  from members of Netanyahu’s cabinet. But the announcement marks a turning point in official policy that could have significant implications.

Israel’s far-right has repeatedly  the expulsion of Palestinians and the resettlement of Gaza. In response to Netanyahu’s announcement, the finance minister and leader of the Religious Zionist party, Bezalel Smotrich,  that there will be “no retreat from the territories we have conquered, not even in exchange for hostages”.

Smotrich  that a successful Israeli incursion would leave Gaza “totally destroyed”, with the Palestinian population left “totally despairing” and wanting to leave the Strip.

Yair Golan, leader of the Israeli left-of-centre , criticised the plans for an all-out occupation of Gaza. He  on May 5 that the operation was approved “not in order to protect the security of Israel, but in order to save Netanyahu and his government of extremists”.

It’s  that has consistently been raised against Netanyahu’s response to the October 7 Hamas attacks. The  also  for sacrificing the lives of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza and spilling the blood of more Israeli soldiers.

Despite this opposition, it is  who hold the reins of power and appear to be influencing Israeli government policy when it comes to Gaza.

The government’s objectives to eradicate Hamas in Gaza, and shore up Netanyahu’s  as prime minister – as well as  to expel Palestinians from Gaza to neighbouring countries – have given them the opportunity to realise their maximalist dreams. This is not only the reoccupation of Gaza, but also the annexation of the West Bank.

Gaza and the West Bank have notable differences. An all-out war of the kind being waged in Gaza is unlikely in the West Bank, at least at present. But there have been many attempts from various arms of the Israeli system to .

Driving Palestinians from the West Bank

At the end of 2023, half a million Israelis  in the West Bank, compared with almost 3 million Palestinians. As of November 2024, the Israeli Peace Now movement  that it said were “officially established” by the Israeli government in the West Bank (not including those in East Jerusalem), with a further 224 outposts established without government approval since the 1990s. These are considered illegal according to Israeli law – although only two of these outposts have ever been evicted.

In 1993, under the sponsorship of the Clinton administration, the Israeli government and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation signed the  (also commonly referred to as Oslo Accord 1). This divided the West Bank into three areas: A, B and C. These are not delineated areas, rather – as the Oslo accords map below shows – they differentiate between Palestinian cities and villages and areas under Israeli civil and military control, about 60% of the total of the land area of the West Bank.

Area C is where the majority of Israeli settlers live, alongside, at present, 200,000 Palestinians. Oslo Accord II mandated the gradual transfer of control of this area to the Palestinians, but this .

Research by the  has found that, despite full control of Area C being central for the creation of a viable Palestinian state, there are  in place, one for Israelis and one for Palestinians.

Israeli Human Rights Organisation, B’Tselem, has criticised Israel’s  in Area C as “aimed at preventing Palestinian development and dispossessing Palestinians of their land”. This is achieved through denying permits for Palestinian construction and demolishing Palestinian buildings, while allowing Israeli settlement construction.

Meanwhile, for decades the Israeli settlers have engaged in  against Palestinians there. This continuing harassment has led to Palestinian . In his recent documentary film, , Louis Theroux films and interviews ultranationalist settlers who make it clear they have nothing but contempt for the Palestinians – solely motivated by what they believe to be their God-given right to sovereignty over the Greater Land of Israel.

As the exclusive authority over Area C of the West Bank, Israel is obliged by international law to protect the Palestinian communities. But a report by Israeli human rights organisation, , dating back to 2006 , even then, “a systematic evasion of applying the law to Israeli civilians who harm Palestinians in the West Bank”. The Israeli authorities, according to Yesh Din,  as crimes are committed by the settlers towards Palestinians.

2025 the ‘year of sovereignty’

In February 2023, Smotrich was entrusted with  in Area C. He has made no effort to hide his intentions of  over the occupied territory.

Unlike in Gaza, the annexation of territory in the West Bank has been incremental and often under the radar. The Palestinian human rights organisation, Al Haq, claims this amounts to  of the West Bank.

Smotrich this week said the government would move forward with its plans to  in the  of the West Bank. This would include the building of enough Israeli settlements to .

Should it go ahead, it would significantly alter the situation by effectively dividing the West Bank in half and would bury any remaining hope for a two-state solution. In the words of Smotrich: “this is how you kill the Palestinian state”.

This article .  It was written by Dr Leonie Fleischmann, Senior Lecturer in International Politics and Human Rights at ÃÛÌÒTV, University of London.