International outrage was growing on Monday at Israeli plans to tighten the country's grip over the occupied West Bank, with the United Nations chief saying he was "gravely concerned".
Earlier on Feb. 9, Türkiye and seven other Muslim-majority countries condemned the new Israeli measures, which pave the way for more settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Announced on Sunday by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz after being approved by the security cabinet, they include allowing Jewish Israelis to buy West Bank land directly, and extending greater Israeli control over areas where the Palestinian Authority exercises power.
It was unclear when the new rules would take effect but they do not require further approval.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was "gravely concerned" at the changes, and warned they were "eroding the prospects for the two-state solution", his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
The West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, would form the largest part of any future Palestinian state but is seen by many on the religious right as Israeli land.
Smotrich had said on Sunday that the changes aimed at "deepening our roots in all regions of the Land of Israel and burying the idea of a Palestinian state".
Guterres called Israel's actions "destabilising" and pointed to an International Court of Justice finding that Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territory is illegal.
The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt and Türkiye "condemned in the strongest terms the illegal Israeli decisions and measures aimed at imposing unlawful Israeli sovereignty", a Saudi statement said.
It called them an attempt at "entrenching settlement activity, and enforcing a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied West Bank, thereby accelerating attempts at its illegal annexation and the displacement of the Palestinian people".
'Attempts to annex'
The Israeli measures also envisage transferring authority over building permits for settlements in the Palestinian city of Hebron —. the West Bank's largest —. from the Palestinian Authority to Israel.
In addition, the reform strengthens Israeli control over two major religious sites in the southern West Bank: Rachel's Tomb near Bethlehem and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
In addition to the diplomatic criticism, the announcement drew condemnation from Palestinians and experts.
The Palestinian presidency in Ramallah, which exercises limited control over some areas of the West Bank, said the move was aimed at "deepening attempts to annex the occupied West Bank".
"What they want is to drive Palestinians into small pieces of land, basically, their major cities, enclaves, and the rest is gone," Palestinian political scientist and former minister Ali Jarbawi said.
Yonatan Mizrachi of Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog, said the steps would further weaken the Palestinian Authority, which was established under the Oslo Accords of the 1990s as an interim governing body pending the creation of a fully fledged Palestinian state.
"Israel is actually advancing annexation and that's something that we've seen for three years, but what is also significant in this case is that Israel has also decided to weaken the Palestinian Authority," Mizrachi said.
The announcement came days ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the United States, where he is due to meet President Donald Trump, who has upheld U.S. opposition to Israeli annexation of the West Bank.
Washington has yet to formally comment on the new measures.
More than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements and outposts in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law.
Around three million Palestinians live in the territory.
Another 200,000 Israelis live in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, which the U.N. says is part of the Palestinian territories.
