Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called on the Israeli military to "go to war" in the occupied West Bank, saying it should repeat what it "did in Gaza."
In an interview published on Sunday, Smotrich told a news outlet that Israel needs to "go to war in Judea and Samaria, to do there what we did in Gaza, to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, which is a terror authority." He used a biblical term to refer to the occupied West Bank.
The minister was responding to a question about how Israel should address what he described as increasing "security tensions" in the territory.
"We need to tell" Israeli forces, he said, "Just as you dismantled Hamas in Gaza, there won't be terror infrastructure in Judea and Samaria. No terrorists, no weapons, no tunnels."
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recorded more than 1,330 settler-related attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank from January to late July, averaging six per day -- the highest rate in approximately 20 years.
Various settler groups, often supported or protected by Israeli soldiers, have carried out attacks on Palestinians including shootings, besieging homes, and other forms of communal violence that experts have described as "pogroms." Rights groups warn that settlers are increasingly armed with military-issued weaponry and wear military uniforms during attacks, blurring the line between settler and soldier.
Smotrich's comments came as Israeli authorities announced a week-long comprehensive military closure across the occupied West Bank, citing the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Heightened restrictions on Palestinian movement are set to remain in place until October 3.
Meanwhile, in occupied East Jerusalem, hundreds of Israelis entered the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque under heavy police protection on Sunday. According to reports, the Israelis entered the compound through the Moroccan Gate and performed Talmudic rituals, as Israeli forces increased restrictions around the mosque and across Jerusalem's Old City.
