Palestinian factions and Arab states have denounced Israel’s latest step toward formal annexation of the occupied West Bank, after the Knesset passed two bills advancing its control over Palestinian land, in a move that also prompted a warning from the United States.
The vote, held on Wednesday, saw Israeli lawmakers approve two draft laws aimed at extending Israeli sovereignty to illegal settlements built on occupied Palestinian territory. The preliminary approval clears the way for further debate in the Knesset.
Hamas, which entered a ceasefire with Israel in Gaza over two weeks ago, condemned Israel's "frantic attempts to annex the West Bank territories as illegitimate and null and void", stressing that the vote "will not change the reality that the West Bank is Palestinian land".
The group said the measure "expresses the occupation's ugly colonialist face".
The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank and is internationally recognised as representing the Palestinian people, also "rejected and denounced with the strongest words the attempts by the Israeli occupation's Knesset to annex Palestinian Territories," adding that "Israel will never have sovereignty over the Palestinian Territories".
Condemnations also came from across the Arab world. Qatar described the legislation as "a blatant violation of the historical rights of the Palestinian people and a challenge to international law and relevant resolutions".
Saudi Arabia, which Washington has sought to pressure into normalising relations with Israel, said it "stresses its complete rejection of all settlement and expansionist violations perpetrated by the Israeli occupation authorities".
Jordan said the move "undermines the two-state solution and the Palestinian people's unrelinquishable right to self-determination", while Turkey called it "a violation of international law" and "null and void".
Warnings that the bills could endanger the Gaza ceasefire
Turkey warned that the annexation drive was "a provocative step, taken at a time when efforts to establish peace in Gaza are ongoing", and said it "threatens the already fragile security and stability environment in the region".
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed those concerns, telling reporters before flying to Israel on Thursday that "they [Israel] passed a vote in the Knesset, but the president has made clear that's not something we'd be supportive of right now".
"We think there's potential for [it to be even] threatening to the peace deal," he said, adding, "at this time we think… it might be counterproductive."
Rubio’s remarks follow a series of high-level US visits to Israel, including by Vice President JD Vance, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, aimed at preserving the Gaza ceasefire despite ongoing Israeli violations that have killed 88 Palestinians and injured 315 more.
The US has also established an operations room inside Israel, staffed by 200 US Army personnel and a contingent of British soldiers, to monitor the truce, in a move that further entrenches Western involvement in Israel's occupation.
Both bills passed by the Israeli Knesset concern the annexation of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. The first seeks to apply Israeli sovereignty to all settlements, while the second specifically targets the settlement bloc and city of Ma'ale Adumim, one of the largest illegal colonies built east of Jerusalem.
Although boycotted by most opposition lawmakers except one member of the ruling Likud party, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the measures were backed by smaller ultra-nationalist factions within both the coalition and the opposition.
The first bill, sponsored by far-right MK Avi Moaz of the Noam party, passed by 25 votes to 24, with support from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power), Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism party, and members of United Torah Judaism.
The second bill, introduced by opposition MK Avigdor Liberman of Israel Beytenu, passed with 32 votes to nine, receiving support from opposition leaders Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid and Benny Gantz of Blue and White, revealing broad Israeli political backing for deepening control over occupied Palestinian land.
A Reuters analysis this month, entitled 'How Israel's West Bank strategy aims to bury Palestinian statehood', found that settlements and surrounding military areas have fragmented the West Bank into disconnected enclaves, erasing the possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state, as more Western nations recognise it.