Thursday 19 / February / 2026
New York: Members of the UN Security Council have warned that Israel's efforts to expand control in the West Bank posed a threat to prospects of a two-state solution.
The situation is "deteriorating rapidly" in the occupied West Bank, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo said in a briefing late on Wednesday.
"Widespread raids have been accompanied by home takeovers, mass detentions, movement restrictions and repeated displacement of Palestinian families, particularly in the north," DiCarlo said.
"We are witnessing the gradual de facto annexation of the West Bank," she said. In the last few weeks, Israel has launched a contentious land regulation process that will deepen its control in the occupied West Bank.
The West Bank would form the largest part of any future Palestinian state, but many on Israel's religious right view it as Israeli land.
UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who chaired the UN meeting, said: "We must prevent the destabilization of the West Bank and preserve the viability of a Palestinian state."
The representative of Somalia, a non-permanent UN Security Council member for the 2025-2026 term, called for the international community to "stand together against any attempt to alter the demographic composition of the Palestinian territories by force or coercion."
The comments come a day after the UN missions for 85 member states issued a joint statement condemning Israel's expanding control of the West Bank.
"We strongly condemn unilateral Israeli decisions and measures aimed at expanding Israel's unlawful presence in the West Bank," the statement said.
The UN meeting also touched on the state of the US-brokered ceasefire deal that took effect in October 2025.. Israeli and Palestinian civil society representatives briefed the Council for the first time since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel that started the war.
