A row between Israel and France over Paris's plan to recognize a Palestinian state next month escalated to crisis level on Tuesday when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused President Emmanuel Macron of fomenting "antisemitism".

A row between Israel and France over Paris’ plan to recognise a Palestinian state next month escalated to crisis level on Tuesday when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused President Emmanuel Macron of fomenting “antisemitism”.

Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, said on Thursday that a plan to significantly expand a settlement near occupied East Jerusalem had won approval. But a procedural step remained.

Standing at the site of the planned settlement in Maale Adumim on Thursday, Smotrich, a settler himself, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump had agreed to the revival of the E1 development, though there was no immediate confirmation from either.

Israel's far-right finance minister announced approval of the construction of a contentious settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that he says "buries the idea of a Palestinian state."

Israel's far-right finance minister has announced a contentious new settlement construction in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which Palestinians and rights groups worry will scuttle plans for a future Palestinian state by effectively cutting the West Bank into two separate parts.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday Britain was prepared to recognise a Palestinian state in September at the United Nations General Assembly in response to growing public anger over the images of starving children in Gaza.

France has said it plans to formally recognize a Palestinian state in a reflection of Israel's growing isolation over its conduct in Gaza.

Local health officials in Gaza say Israeli forces have killed at least 55 people overnight, including a well-known journalist who Israel said was a militant and people who witnesses say were seeking humanitarian aid.