Israel.. Smotrich Calls for Waging War in the West Bank and Annexing Parts of Lebanon and Gaza

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Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who belongs to the far-right, called on Sunday to annex areas of southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip currently under the control of the Israeli army, and to "go to war" in the West Bank.

Smotrich said in a podcast for the Israeli news site "Ynet": "I would like us to annex at least the areas extending to the yellow line in Gaza (which separates the areas under Hamas control from those under Israeli control), and to reach the Litani River in Lebanon... because if the war ends at the same lines it started from, what will deter the enemy from waging war again?".

The Israeli minister added: "I believe we need to go to war" in the West Bank "and dismantle the Palestinian Authority."

Smotrich has long called for the annexation of the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967.

Violence in the West Bank has escalated since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip, with an increase in settler attacks that have resulted in the deaths of several Palestinians and the theft of their property.

Except for East Jerusalem, around three million Palestinians live in the West Bank, along with nearly 500,000 Israeli settlers in settlements considered illegal under international law.