The Israeli military has given religious settler and minister Bezalel Smotrich increased legal control over the occupied West Bank

The Israeli military has quietly handed over significant legal powers in the occupied West Bank to pro-settler civil servants working for Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the Guardian reported on 21 June, in a move that will help accelerate Israel’s illegal annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories.

The Israeli military announced the transfer of responsibility for dozens of bylaws at the Civil Administration on its website on 29 May. The Civil Administration governs the West Bank under the military’s direction.

Smotrich, a leader in the religious settler movement, became finance minister and a minister in the defense ministry as part of a coalition agreement that brought Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu back to power in late 2022.

Smotrich has called for the destruction of Gaza, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the strip, and its annexation as well.