G7 'stands united' against far-right Israeli plans to annex West Bank and Gaza

UK Foreign Secretary says ministers vowed to oppose move at talks in Italy

The site of an Israeli settler attack in Al Bireh near the West Bank city of Ramallah. EPA

The G7 group of nations would unite to “stand against” any attempt by Israeli extremists to annex the occupied West Bank and Gaza, Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy said.

He informed British MPs on Tuesday that the issue of Israel’s illegal seizure of Palestinian territory was raised a day earlier during a meeting of G7 Foreign Ministers in Italy. The group comprises the UK, US, Japan, Italy, Canada, Germany and France, as well as the US.

“We were united, all of us, in condemning any suggestion of annexation,” he said. “We would stand against it.”

Mr Lammy was responding to a question by Calum Miller, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, who raised comments made last week by far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who advocated the annexation of the West Bank. This suggested the Israeli government had “no interest in a two-state solution” to the Palestine-Israel crisis, Mr Miller said.

There was now a “real and imminent risk that the extremists in the Israeli cabinet will succeed in annexing Palestinian territories before any negotiations can take place”, he added,

Mr Lammy told MPs that he wanted to “make it absolutely clear annexation would be illegal”. “We will continue to speak out against both illegal violence by settlers and settlers’ annexation,” he added.

He also said sanctions against Mr Smotrich and far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir were under consideration.

There are growing concerns that Israel’s unrelenting campaign in northern Gaza is part of a tactic to depopulate the area. Since the Hamas-led attack on October 7 last year, there has also been widespread settler violence in the West Bank, with more than 700 Palestinians killed.

Threat to Gaza aid

The increasingly dire humanitarian situation in Gaza was also raised by the ministers, along with deep concerns over a new Israeli law that will prevent the UN agency for Palestinian refugees from accessing the enclave from January 28 next year.

“There is huge concern that if this legislation does take effect, it will breach numerous international laws and will have a catastrophic effect on the humanitarian and security situation in the region,” said Sarah Champion, chairwoman of the international development committee.

In response, Development Minister Anneliese Dodds said the UK made it “absolutely clear” to Israel that UNRWA was the only agency that could deliver aid at the “scale and depth” required in Gaza.

She also emphasised that to the UN General Assembly and Mr Lammy also made the importance of UNRWA clear “a number of times” to Israeli officials. “It's very clear those restrictions on the operation of UNRWA must not be implemented by the Israeli government,” Ms Dodds said.