A group of key Muslim countries, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Egypt and Qatar, on Monday issued a strong joint warning to Israel over what they described as accelerating efforts to illegally annex the occupied West Bank, just days before US President Donald Trump is set to chair the inaugural summit of the Gaza Board of Peace.

In a joint statement released by the Foreign Office here, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Qatar condemned in “the strongest terms” Israeli decisions and measures aimed at imposing unlawful sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory.

The statement accused Israel of entrenching settlement activity and enforcing a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied West Bank, steps the ministers said were designed to accelerate illegal annexation and forcibly displace the Palestinian population.

“They reaffirmed that Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory,” the statement said, underscoring a rare show of coordinated diplomatic messaging from a geographically diverse group of Muslim-majority states.

The foreign ministers warned that continued expansionist Israeli policies in the West Bank were fuelling violence and deepening instability across the region, at a time when Gaza remains devastated by war and prospects for peace are increasingly fragile.

The joint condemnation comes amid growing international alarm over Israel’s moves to legalise settlement outposts, expand civilian control mechanisms in the West Bank, and issue inflammatory statements by senior Israeli officials calling for permanent territorial control.

Palestinian authorities and rights groups argue these steps amount to de facto annexation.

The ministers categorically rejected Israel’s actions, describing them as a blatant violation of international law and a direct assault on the two-state solution.

They stressed that these measures undermine the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to establish an independent and sovereign state on the 4 June 1967 lines, with occupied East Jerusalem as its capital.

“These actions also undermine ongoing efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region,” the statement warned.

Significantly, the ministers invoked binding international legal instruments to reinforce their position.

They declared Israel’s measures in the occupied West Bank “null and void,” citing UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemns all Israeli actions aimed at altering the demographic composition and status of territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem.

They also referred to the 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, which found Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory to be illegal, affirmed the necessity of ending the occupation, and rejected the legality of annexation of Palestinian land.

The reference to the ICJ opinion adds legal weight to the diplomatic pressure, particularly as Israel has dismissed the ruling and continued with settlement expansion.

The ministers urged the international community to fulfil its legal and moral responsibilities by compelling Israel to halt what they described as a dangerous escalation in the occupied West Bank and to rein in inflammatory rhetoric by Israeli officials.