Israel on Tuesday ordered the closure of Britain's consulate in Jerusalem, as it reacted angrily to UK-led Western sanctions over violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Israel said it would also expel British representatives at a centre monitoring the US-brokered ceasefire plan in Gaza, bar British training for Palestinian Authority forces, and ban 12 Britons, mostly members of parliament, from visiting.
The 12 nationals include Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour Party leader and outspoken Palestinian advocate, as well as Zarah Sultana, who joined Corbyn in breaking away from Labour to form the left-wing Your Party.
It came after 12 countries including Britain, Canada and France announced they would sanction trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank, following a surge in settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied territory that have killed and wounded hundreds of people in recent years.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband accused Israeli settlers of "ethnic cleansing" in the West Bank and said the Israeli government was turning a blind eye to this.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar claimed Miliband's accusations were "outrageous lies." Israel has rapidly expanded illegal settlement construction across the West Bank, while settlers create illegal outposts. The extremist settlers have carried out multiple pogroms against Palestinian communities.
Saar said Israel was closing the British consulate which lies in occupied East Jerusalem, part of the historically Palestinian area that Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel later annexed East Jerusalem and considers the city its "undivided capital."
While Israel controls East Jerusalem, most countries including Britain do not recognise its sovereignty over the whole city.
Many Palestinians want to see the West Bank and the Gaza Strip part of a future sovereign Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel's far-right government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects this.
An exception is the United States which, under President Donald Trump during his first term, moved the embassy to Jerusalem. Britain and the vast majority of countries that recognise Israel keep their embassies in Tel Aviv.
Israel in 2024 ordered Spain's consulate in Jerusalem to stop offering consular services for Palestinians after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, an outspoken critic of Israel, recognised a Palestinian state.