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Israel on Wednesday approved new settlements in the West Bank and announced that it was moving ahead with plans to take over Gaza City, bucking international criticism and defying growing support for the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
The moves raised questions about whether a new cease-fire proposal — which officials have said is similar to terms that Israel previously endorsed — could move forward.
Experts said the two moves suggested Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was bending to the ideologies of extremists in his coalition in order to remain in power — even at the cost of isolating Israel internationally.
The idea of a Palestinian state “is being erased from the table,” Bezalel Smotrich, the hard-line finance minister, declared after the government approved a settlement project of 3,400 housing units in the heart of the occupied West Bank.
“Every town, every neighborhood, every housing unit is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea,” Mr. Smotrich said on Wednesday.
At the same time, the Israeli military said it was advancing plans to take over Gaza City, with troops already on the city’s outskirts and tents being moved into southern Gaza for displaced people.
An additional 60,000 reservists would be told to report for duty in September, while troops have already obtained “operational control” over 75 percent of the Gaza Strip, the military said in statements. The United Nations has put that number closer to 90 percent.
The military “has begun the next phase of the war,” Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, said.
The looming assault aims to prevent Hamas — which led the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, onslaught on southern Israel that started the war — from regrouping and planning future attacks, an Israeli military official, who requested anonymity in line with military protocol, told journalists at a briefing on Wednesday.
About 1,200 people were killed and around 250 others kidnapped during the 2023 assault. After nearly two years of Israel’s retaliatory war against Hamas, the Gaza Strip has been largely leveled, and parts of it have been brought to the brink of famine. More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gazan health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
For Mr. Netanyahu, “it doesn’t matter if these steps — the war in Gaza and the quasi-annexation in the West Bank — would damage Israel’s relations with the Arab world,” said Michael Milshtein, an Israeli analyst and former military intelligence officer.
He said both developments also showed that Mr. Netanyahu believes he can continue to depend on American support, even as Arab and European nations sharply condemn Israel’s actions.
World leaders quickly condemned the announcements on Gaza City.
“The military offensive in Gaza that Israel is preparing can only lead to disaster for both peoples and risks plunging the entire region into a cycle of permanent war,” President Emmanuel Macron of France said on social media.
France is among a growing number of countries that, frustrated with Israel’s war in Gaza, have declared in recent months that they will recognize a Palestinian state at the annual U.N. General Assembly in September. While the United States has for years endorsed a so-called two-state solution, it has blocked recent efforts to recognize full Palestinian statehood under current conditions.
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An Israeli military vehicle on Israel’s side of the border with Gaza on Tuesday.Credit…Amir Cohen/Reuters
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