Israel’s finance minister says he is drawing up West Bank annexation maps, UN reports 21,000 Gaza children disabled

Israel’s far-right finance minister said on Wednesday that maps were being drawn up for annexing territory in the occupied West Bank, land the Palestinians seek for a state, although it was unclear if he had Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s support.

At a press conference in Jerusalem, Bezalel Smotrich stood before a map that suggested the possible annexation of most of the West Bank with the exception of six large Palestinian cities, including Ramallah and Nablus.

Smotrich said he wanted “maximum territory and minimum (Palestinian) population” to be brought under Israeli sovereignty, urging Netanyahu to accept his plan that is being drawn up by a department under Smotrich’s supervision in the Defence Ministry.

“The time has come to apply Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria, to remove once and for all from the agenda the idea of dividing our tiny land and establishing a terror state in its centre,” he said, using biblical names widely used in Israel and the administrative name used by the state to describe the area.

“Who can defend a state with such small strategic depth? And this is why the goal of the sovereignty is to remove, once and for all, a Palestinian state from the agenda. And this is done when applying (sovereignty) to all of the territory, other than Arab population centres. I have no interest in letting them enjoy what the state of Israel has to offer,” he said.

Smotrich, a settler leader, has long called for annexation of the West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and which is among territories the Palestinians seek for a future independent state.

Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond on Wednesday to a request for comment on the prime minister’s position on the matter.

However, the prospect of any concrete steps by the Netanyahu government, which would likely entail a lengthy legislative process, is unclear.

‘RED LINE’

Any step toward annexation would likely draw widespread condemnation from Arab and Western countries. It is unclear where U.S. President Donald Trump stands on the matter.

Speaking after Smotrich made his remarks, an official from the United Arab Emirates said Israeli annexation of the West Bank would be a “red line” for the UAE, which established formal ties with Israel in 2020 under U.S.-brokered accords.

A spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday that “any annexation or settlement activity by Israel is illegitimate, condemned, and unacceptable”.

Abdel Hakim Hanini, an official of the Palestinian militant group Hamas which is a rival of Abbas’ Fatah, said annexing the West Bank would not bring Israel the security it seeks and instead “lead to further resistance and confrontation”.

Israel, which is facing mounting international criticism over the war in Gaza, has been angered by pledges by France, Britain, Australia and Canada to formally recognise a Palestinian state during the U.N. General Assembly in September.

Reuters reported on Sunday that Israel was considering annexing the West Bank as a possible response to those pledges.

The United Nations’ highest court said in 2024 that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, and its settlements there were illegal and should end as soon as possible.

Israel says the territories are not occupied in legal terms because they are disputed.

UN reports 21,000 Gaza children disabled as daily death toll climbs

At least 21,000 children in Gaza have been disabled since October 7, 2023, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities said on Wednesday, as Gaza’s health ministry reported 113 Palestinians killed in the past 24 hours.

The UN committee reported that approximately 40,500 children have suffered “new war-related injuries” in the nearly two years since the conflict began, with more than half left disabled.

Gaza’s health ministry said on Wednesday that 113 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday, with more than half in Gaza City. Hospital officials said people were killed in airstrikes whilst trying to reach aid or from hunger, the Associated Press reported.

The ministry reported five adults and one child died from malnutrition over the past day, bringing the total malnutrition deaths to 367, including 131 children throughout the war.

Israeli strikes killed at least 24 people overnight into Wednesday, hospital officials told the Associated Press. Nasser Hospital said it received 10 bodies, including one aid-seeker in Rafah and a child killed by a strike in southern Gaza. Al-Shifa Hospital reported receiving 14 bodies, including two children and four women, on Wednesday.

The casualty count represents figures seen regularly in recent weeks and came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli commanders told reservists the offensive was entering what they hoped would be a “decisive stage” of the war.

Israel has intensified air and ground assaults on Gaza City’s outskirts, particularly in western neighbourhoods where humanitarian groups report people are being driven toward the coast. Israel maintains that Gaza City remains a Hamas stronghold above what military officials describe as an extensive underground tunnel network.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for annexation of occupied West Bank territories after several governments signalled intention to recognise Palestinian statehood. Belgium became the latest Western country to announce it will recognise Palestine at the UN General Assembly this month, following Australia, Canada and France.

“The time has come to apply Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich said, using Israel’s term for the West Bank. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the statements as “inflammatory calls to deepen settlement activity and annex the occupied West Bank.”

The war has killed at least 63,000 Palestinians in two years, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Israel launched its military campaign after Hamas-led militants killed approximately 1,200 people on 7 October 2023.

The Hamas-run health ministry, staffed by medical professionals, does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children comprise around half of the dead. UN agencies and independent experts consider the ministry’s figures the most reliable casualty estimates. Israel disputes them but has not provided its own toll.

Famine has been officially confirmed for the first time in Gaza as of August 2025, marking the first time famine has been officially declared in the Middle East.

Experts, governments, United Nations agencies, and non-governmental organisations have accused Israel of carrying out genocide against the Palestinian people.

The International Association of Genocide Scholars has declared that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide under international law.