Israeli government applying ‘annexation’ in occupied West Bank, energy minister says

The Israeli government is effectively applying annexation on the ground in the occupied West Bank, Energy Minister Eli Cohen said Monday, in defiance of international opposition, Anadolu reports. Cohen, a member of Israel’s Security Cabinet, said that what is happening amounts to “applying sovereignty in practice,” using a term the Israeli government often employs to refer to annexation. Cohen added on US social media company X that he reached an agreement with Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan to connect new illegal settlements in the West Bank, including Homesh, Sa-Nur, Rehavam and Ebal, to electricity and water networks. The Palestinian Authority has for decades called on the international community to halt Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied territories, with little success. […]