THE Foreign Office has summoned the Israeli ambassador over Israel's approval of a major illegal settlement plan in the West Bank.
Earlier this week, the Israeli government gave final approval for an illegal settlement project in the occupied West Bank, which Palestinians and rights groups say could destroy plans for a future Palestinian state.
Announcing the approval, Israeli far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said it "finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognise and no-one to recognise".
In recent weeks, the UK and several other western countries have announced plans to recognise a Palestinian state.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK will recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel meets certain conditions, including agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza and reviving the prospect of a two-state solution.
Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely was summoned to the Foreign Office on Thursday in response to the settlement plans, which are widely considered by the international community to be illegal.
On Thursday, Palestinians were seen fleeing as Israel began the first stages of a planned assault on Gaza City, with Israeli troops establishing a foothold on the outskirts of the city after days of intense bombing and artillery fire.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "Today, the Ambassador of Israel to the United Kingdom was summoned to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
"Her Excellency Tzipi Hotovely was summoned in response to the Israeli Higher Planning Committee’s decision to approve plans for settlement construction in the E1 area, East of Jerusalem.
"The UK and 21 international partners have written to condemn this decision in the strongest terms. If implemented, these settlement plans would be a flagrant breach of international law and would divide a future Palestinian state in two, critically undermining a two-state solution."
A petition to expel the ambassador from the UK has reached 194,292 signatures as of Thursday.
Hotovely has repeatedly rejected the notion of a two-state solution and once called the Nakba – when 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced and more than 500 Palestinian cities, towns and villages were destroyed by Israel in 1948 during the country’s formation – an "Arab lie".
She was last summoned to the Foreign Office in May, when the UK Government called off negotiations with the Israeli government on a new free trade deal.
