Israel’s Smotrich calls for ‘war’ in West Bank: Rhetoric or real threat?

Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich told Ynet News that Israel should ‘‘go to war’’ in the occupied West Bank and replicate the tactics used by the military in Gaza, where Israeli operations have produced widespread destruction and high civilian casualties. Smotrich, a far-right leader who has been sanctioned by several Western countries along with Cabinet colleague Itamar Ben-Gvir, also advocated annexing territory Israel controls inside Gaza and parts of southern Lebanon. Human-rights lawyers and Palestinian officials described the remarks as more than electoral posturing. Suhad Bishara, legal director at Adalah, said Smotrich is not merely proposing a new campaign but that elements of it are already being carried out in the West Bank, including demolitions and forced displacement in refugee camps. The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the comments an ‘‘explicit invitation to escalate the aggression’’ and said they reveal plans for annexation and displacement that would undermine prospects for a Palestinian state. Smotrich specified the areas he would like to annex as reaching the ‘‘Yellow Line’’ inside Gaza—areas Israeli military maps show extending roughly 1.5–6.5 km from the enclave’s eastern boundary—and up to the Litani River in Lebanon. The article cites casualty figures for the wider conflict, including at least 1,408 Palestinians killed since a cited ‘‘ceasefire’’ took effect and a health ministry figure of about 74,000 killed since October 2023. It also notes heavy violence in southern Lebanon, where the article reports at least 4,386 people killed and 12,407 wounded since March 2 in the Hezbollah-Israel war. Legal experts quoted in the piece warned that a declared plan to seize occupied land by force would violate international law, and some campaigners and UN investigators have described Israel’s military actions in Gaza in terms that include accusations of genocide. Smotrich’s comments come against a backdrop of heightened settler attacks, widespread arrests in the West Bank and political tension ahead of Israel’s general election about a month after the interview.