Smotrich Urges Israel to Wage War in Occupied West Bank

During a Saturday interview with Ynet News, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich urged the military to launch an all-out assault on the occupied West Bank, insisting troops replicate the Gaza operation there and calling for the Palestinian Authority to be dismantled.⁶¹⁷

Call for war and the Palestinian Authority

Speaking on a podcast for the Israeli outlet Ynet News, Smotrich said, "I think we need to go to war in [occupied West Bank], to dismantle the Palestinian Authority that supports terror." He argued Israeli forces should replicate the campaign conducted in Gaza, saying troops should leave "No terror infrastructure, No terrorists, no weapons, no tunnels."¹⁵⁶

The Palestinian Authority rejected the comments, stating, "His statements are an explicit call for escalation, annexation and displacement, aimed at undermining prospects of independent Palestinian state." The Palestinian Foreign Ministry separately called the remarks dangerous and demanded international action, saying "There can be no security, stability or peace through war, killing, displacement and settlement expansion" and warning that "any attempt to undermine or dismantle them would carry full responsibility for its consequences."⁴⁵¹

Annexation ambitions in Lebanon and Gaza

Smotrich also called for Israel to annex territory in Gaza and southern Lebanon currently under Israeli military control. He said, "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." The yellow line marks the boundary of the area of Gaza held by Israeli forces since the recent war, extending between 1.5km and 6.5km inside the enclave and covering roughly 58 percent of its territory.⁵⁷²³

He contended that concluding wars at their starting lines fails to deter future conflict, asking, "If a war ends along the same lines where it began, what will deter the enemy from going to war again." Al Jazeera and the Dominican Republic Post report that Smotrich has additionally warned he could reduce Beirut's southern suburbs to a second Gaza, and that he has previously pushed for reviving Israeli settlements inside Gaza and pushing Israel's frontier out to the Litani River.⁵²³¹

Context: occupation, settlements and violence

The West Bank has been occupied by Israel since 1967, and more than 500,000 Israeli settlers now live there in settlements considered illegal under international law. As head of the far-right Religious Zionism party, Smotrich has in the past pushed for Israel to seize over 80 percent of West Bank territory. The Israeli cabinet signed off on 13 fresh illegal settlements in the central West Bank this past July, following a June announcement of a new settlement near Jerusalem that would include 2,162 housing units for Jewish residents.⁴¹⁵²

West Bank violence has escalated sharply since the Gaza war began in the wake of Hamas's October 7, 2023 assault, with Israeli soldiers and settlers responsible for at least 1,110 Palestinian deaths, per accounts from The Hindu and The New Arab. Al Jazeera and the Dominican Republic Post cite UN body OCHA as documenting upwards of 1,330 settler attacks against Palestinians from January through late July—roughly six daily incidents that these outlets characterized as the steepest pace in nearly twenty years, a claim not backed up by other sources in this collection. The same sources say settler groups are often supported or protected by Israeli soldiers and are increasingly armed with military-issued weaponry.⁴⁵²³

Per Al Jazeera, Israel imposed a full military lockdown of the occupied West Bank lasting seven days, with the Sukkot holiday-linked restrictions expected to stay until October 3. That same report noted that on Sunday, hundreds of Israelis entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque grounds in occupied East Jerusalem while shielded by a heavy police presence.²

Wider toll and reaction

Al Jazeera and the Dominican Republic Post report that Israeli strikes have claimed at least 1,408 Palestinian lives in the period after the Gaza ceasefire took hold, pushing the overall death toll since October 2023 past 74,000. A UN commission of inquiry panel has said Israel committed genocide in Gaza, the same outlets report. The Hindu additionally reports at least 49 Israelis killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations, and estimates some three million Palestinians live in the West Bank.²³⁴

In Lebanon, Israeli forces are reported to occupy up to 600 square kilometres of territory up to the Litani River, according to Al Jazeera and the Dominican Republic Post, which also cite a figure of at least 4,386 people killed in Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon since March 2, a toll disputed within the dossier's own sourcing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has downplayed attacks by settlers on Palestinians, characterizing them as "perpetrated by a handful of rioters." Meanwhile, several Western nations have imposed sanctions on both Smotrich and fellow cabinet minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, per Al Jazeera and the Dominican Republic Post. Israel is heading toward general elections scheduled for the end of October.²³⁴⁵