Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for launching a war in the occupied West Bank similar to Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.
Israel “should do there (West Bank) what we did in Gaza,” Smotrich told Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth on Sunday.
He also repeated his call to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited control over parts of the occupied West Bank.
His remarks come amid tighter Israeli restrictions on Palestinian movement in the West Bank, including checkpoint closures and roadblocks that isolate communities and hinder access to work, homes and essential services.
Since Israel began its war on Gaza in October 2023, Israeli forces and illegal settlers have intensified attacks across the occupied West Bank, killing more than 1,206 Palestinians, injuring over 13,300 and arresting nearly 26,000, according to Palestinian figures.
The attacks have included demolishing homes and other structures, burning mosques, bulldozing farmland, preventing farmers from accessing their land and displacing Palestinians, alongside the expansion of illegal settlements.
In Gaza, Israel’s genocidal war has killed nearly 74,000 Palestinians and injured more than 175,000 since October 2023, while destroying around 90 percent of the enclave’s infrastructure.
Despite a ceasefire that took effect on October 10, 2025, Israeli forces have continued daily attacks in Gaza, killing more than 1,400 Palestinians and injuring around 5,000 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
