The Israeli Knesset (parliament) passed a bill in its preliminary reading to annex the occupied West Bank.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party did not support the legislation on Wednesday, which was put forth by lawmakers outside his ruling coalition and passed by a vote of 25-24 out of 120 lawmakers.
A second bill by an opposition party proposing the annexation of the illegal Maale Adumim settlement was also passed by 31-9.
Some members in Netanyahu's coalition, from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's Jewish Power party and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism faction, voted in favour of the bill, which would require a lengthy legislative process to ultimately pass.
Members of Netanyahu's coalition have been calling for years for Israel to formally annex parts of Palestine’s West Bank.
 
The United Nations' highest court in 2024 said that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, and its settlements there are illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible.
Netanyahu's government had been mulling annexation as a response to a string of its Western allies recognising a Palestinian state in September, but appeared to scrap the move after US President Donald Trump's objection.
In September, Trump assured Muslim leaders he would not allow Israel to annex the occupied West Bank.
Trump made the pledge during a closed-door summit on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, where Arab and Muslim leaders pressed Washington to prioritise ending Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. 
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Source: TRT