Overview
- Israel’s security cabinet endorsed steps reported by Israeli media that remove decades‑old barriers to private Jewish purchases of West Bank land, open land registries, and scrap a permit requirement.
- The decisions expand Israeli enforcement into Palestinian‑administered Areas A and B and increase Israeli control over key religious sites, including Hebron’s Cave of the Patriarchs and Bethlehem’s Rachel’s Tomb.
- The Palestinian presidency called the move dangerous and illegal, Hamas urged escalated resistance in the West Bank, and Israeli NGO Peace Now warned the changes advance annexation and weaken the Palestinian Authority.
- Eight Muslim‑majority countries issued a joint statement rejecting the measures as attempts at illegal annexation, citing UN Security Council Resolution 2334 and the 2024 ICJ advisory opinion that found Israel’s occupation unlawful.
- UN Secretary‑General António Guterres voiced grave concern, implementation details were not published but further approval is not required, and the announcement precedes Prime Minister Netanyahu’s scheduled meeting with President Trump in Washington.