The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is reportedly planning a unilateral declaration of statehood this September, a move set to coincide with the UN General Assembly session in New York. This potential declaration comes against a tense backdrop, as Israel’s security cabinet considers expanding its military operations in Gaza into areas previously untouched by the conflict, drawing condemnation both internationally and from within its own ruling coalition.
According to a source cited by the Qatari publication Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the declaration by PNA leader Mahmoud Abbas would aim to ‘confirm the state’s borders, its character, content, and constitutional foundations’ pending a formal constitution. The initiative is seen as an attempt to leverage the recent wave of international recognition for a Palestinian state and grant the PNA ‘geographical and political control over all Palestinian territories,’ reviving an idea that was last considered a decade ago.
The news provoked an immediate and furious reaction from the hardline religious-nationalist faction of Israel’s governing coalition. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir vowed on social media to demand the ‘immediate operational dissolution of the PNA’ at the next cabinet meeting. He described the move as a necessary response to the ‘fantasies’ of Mahmoud Abbas and called for the ‘crushing of the terrorist authority he leads.’
Israel’s proposed military escalation has also sparked sharp criticism across the region. Iran’s Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the plan to fully occupy Gaza, calling it a ‘gross violation of international law’ and a move to ‘impose new realities through violence.’ Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan conveyed to Abbas in a phone call that Israel’s decision was ‘unacceptable,’ affirming that Ankara would continue its diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire.
Significantly, the plan to expand the Gaza offensive has exposed deep fissures within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s own government. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, head of the Religious Zionist party, publicly expressed his loss of faith in Netanyahu’s commitment to achieving a decisive victory. Smotrich claimed the prime minister might only be using the threat of an operation as a negotiating tactic, a sentiment echoed by his party colleague Zvi Sukkot, who suggested a failure to achieve war aims should lead to new elections.
Adding to the domestic pressure, the families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas have announced plans for a general strike to protest the security cabinet’s decision. They argue that a renewed and expanded military offensive would gravely endanger the lives of the remaining hostages and the Israeli soldiers tasked with carrying out the operation, placing the government’s military strategy in direct conflict with the campaign to bring their loved ones home.