Several ministers in Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government demanded that Israel annex the occupied West Bank, after the UK and three other countries formally recognised Palestine on Sunday.
The landmark move by the UK, Canada, Australia and Portugal is set to be replicated at the UN on Monday by France and several other countries, in what is likely to be the most significant wave of recognitions for more than a decade.
The co-ordinated moves are the latest sign of the international horror at the humanitarian catastrophe caused by Israel’s 23-month campaign against Hamas in Gaza. The conflict has tipped part of the strip into famine, and drawn accusations — which Israel denies — that it is committing genocide in the Palestinian enclave.