Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that French President Emmanuel Macron requested to visit Israel, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the request, conditioning it on the reversal of the decision to recognize the Palestinian state.

Netanyahu also attacked Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever after Belgium announced its intention to recognize the State of Palestine and impose sanctions on Israel. Netanyahu described the move as an attempt to appease what he called “terrorism” at Israel’s expense, affirming that his country will not accept this and will continue to defend itself.

This follows Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot’s announcement yesterday that Brussels will recognize the State of Palestine during the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York this month, alongside imposing 12 sanctions on Israel including banning imports of settlement products and reviewing public procurement policies with Israeli companies.

Israel Hayom newspaper reported that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich will try during a meeting held by Prime Minister Netanyahu tomorrow, Thursday, to push his plan to annex the West Bank and impose Israeli sovereignty over it.

The newspaper added that the meeting will focus on security concerns about the outbreak of a new intifada following the recognition of the Palestinian state.

At a press conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Smotrich said his government will not allow Israeli cities to become similar to Gaza envelope areas, stressing that imposing sovereignty over the West Bank is a realistic step to confront the political attack on Israel.

He added that the U.S. administration supports Israel’s decision to eliminate the idea of establishing a Palestinian state, emphasizing that his government’s goal is to completely eradicate that idea.

However, Israel Hayom revealed from informed sources that Prime Minister Netanyahu decided to withdraw the West Bank annexation topic from Thursday’s meeting agenda.

Channel 14 reported that Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz instructed the army, during a closed discussion with army leaders about the situation in the West Bank, to prepare a decisive plan in case of a bad scenario in the area.

Katz emphasized that the main goal is to maintain stability, but warned that if there is a reversal in the Palestinian Authority’s position and it directs its weapons against Israel, the army will fight a war that ends decisively, affirming refusal to allow a new intifada.

Smotrich’s statements sparked several reactions, with UAE Assistant Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Lana Nusseibeh stating that Israel’s attempts to annex the occupied West Bank are a “red line” for Abu Dhabi, according to a statement obtained by AFP.

Reuters quoted Nusseibeh saying any annexation of the West Bank would undermine the spirit of the “Abraham Accords,” noting that the UAE from the beginning considered the accords a means to continue supporting the Palestinian people and their legitimate aspirations for an independent state.

Hamas leader Abdel Hakim Hanini commented on Smotrich’s statements, saying they are “evidence of the settler government’s approach, which commits genocide in Gaza and seeks to impose annexation and displacement in the West Bank,” according to his expression.

Jordan condemned Smotrich’s statements on Wednesday, considering them “a serious and unacceptable escalation.”

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry viewed Smotrich’s “hostile and racist statements about annexing the occupied West Bank and preventing the establishment of the Palestinian state, and his threats to the Palestinian National Authority, as a blatant violation of international law, a serious and unacceptable escalation, and a challenge to the international will supporting the two-state solution.”

It stressed that “there is no Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian land.”

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry spokesman criticized “the absence of international accountability for them and their impunity,” calling on the international community to “oblige Israel and its extremist government to stop its aggression on Gaza, its dangerous escalation in the occupied West Bank, its officials’ inciting statements, and to provide necessary protection for the Palestinian people and fulfill their legitimate rights” to establish their state.

The far-right minister previously stated that “the time has come” to impose Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank occupied since 1967, after several Western countries expressed their intention to recognize a Palestinian state this month.

“The supreme principle of imposing sovereignty… is the slogan: maximum land area with the minimum number of (Palestinian) residents,” according to Smotrich.

France leads efforts to recognize a Palestinian state during the United Nations General Assembly meetings this month.

Belgium joined Western countries that announced their intention to recognize the State of Palestine, following countries including Australia, Canada, and France.

These positions received sharp criticism from Israeli officials, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced the death of 113 people in the Gaza Strip, including 33 aid recipients, while 304 others were injured due to continued Israeli air and artillery shelling over the past 24 hours, raising the total death toll since the war began to 63,746.

The Ministry also recorded six deaths due to hunger and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, including one child, raising the total malnutrition deaths to 367, including 131 children.

More than 15 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since dawn today amid ongoing Israeli air and artillery strikes.

Four Palestinians, including a pregnant woman, were killed after an Israeli strike targeted a residential apartment near the Fishermen’s Port west of Gaza City.

The pregnant woman’s mother told BBC in a state of collapse and complete crying: “We were sleeping, and suddenly we woke up when we heard sounds, and everything around us was dark and the room was filled with thick smoke… Then I went to my daughter’s room, her husband, and their children and found them all killed, and my daughter was seven months pregnant, and I found the fetus dead next to her.”

Meanwhile, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that more than 76,000 Palestinians have been displaced over the past two weeks from across Gaza City, where famine has been declared.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Israeli reservists have begun heading to service, as the government plans to expand the attack to include full control of Gaza City.

Following the Israeli army’s announcement of its readiness to expand fighting inside Gaza City and its calls to civilians to stay away from conflict zones, BBC spoke to some Gaza Strip residents.

Abu Yahya, a displaced person, hopes countries will stand by the Palestinian people. He told BBC, “We are exhausted, where will we go? We have been displaced from north to south, then back to north. We need $1,000 to ride cars and move, and we don’t have a single dollar. The Palestinian people have collapsed.”