Israel halts progress on West Bank annexation bills amid criticism from US

Israel has temporarily frozen the legislative process on two controversial annexation bills concerning the West Bank, following their preliminary approval in Parliament earlier this week.

Ofir Katz, chairman of the government coalition, announced on Thursday that the proposed laws, which seek to extend Israeli sovereignty over the entire West Bank and formally annex the large settlement of Maale Adumim near Jerusalem, would not move forward “until further notice.”

The Knesset had voted on Wednesday in favour of the bills, a move coinciding with the visit of US vice-president J.D. Vance to Israel. The timing drew criticism from Washington, with Vance describing the vote as a “political stunt” devoid of real significance.

“If it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it,” Vance told reporters before departing from Ben Gurion International Airport on Thursday.

In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement dismissing the vote as a “deliberate political provocation by the Opposition” intended to create discord during the American delegation’s visit.

The statement clarified that Netanyahu’s Likud party had not supported the bills, and without its backing, the legislation was unlikely to advance further.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, delegations from Hamas and Fatah convened in Cairo to discuss post-war governance arrangements for the Gaza Strip, according to Al-Qahera News. The talks were reportedly led by Hamas senior official and chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, alongside Fatah’s Palestinian Vice-President Hussein al-Sheikh and intelligence chief Majed Faraj.

The Egyptian channel also reported that Cairo is mediating broader discussions among Palestinian factions on the second phase of Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza and is preparing to host an international conference on Gaza’s reconstruction in the second half of November.