Israel's plan to annex parts of West Bank amounts to ‘declaration of war’: Hamas

“The resistance considers the decision to annex the West Bank and the Jordan Valley to be a declaration of war on our people,” Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Hamas military wing, known as the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said at a televised speech, the Arabic-language al-Aqsa television network reported on Thursday.

He added, “The resistance will be the honest and loyal guardian of the Palestinian people and their sanctities. It will make the enemy full of remorse for such a sinful decision.”

Meanwhile, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov warned on Thursday that Israeli regime’s annexation of more Palestinian territories could inflict irrevocable damage on Israeli-Palestinian relations, fuel extremism, and ignite a regional conflict.

Mladenov was speaking a day after a UN Security Council session in which Secretary General Antonio Guterres, as well as European and Arab powers, called on Netanyahu to end his annexation plans.

"Nobody wants another war, another flare-up of violence in the Middle East, and certainly not one that has such a potential to ignite conflict way beyond its borders," he said.

Mladenov’s remarks came only a day after a UN Security Council session, in which Secretary General Antonio Guterres, as well as European and Arab powers, called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end his proposed annexation plan.