Israel weighs expelling UK officials from Gaza coordination center amid settlements row

Source says more extreme measures also under consideration; UK official says ‘payback’ expected as London hardens stance on Israel’s contentious E1 settlements plan

By Nava Freiberg,

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ToI Staff and Reuters 27 August 2026, 1:22 pm

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Israel is considering expelling British officials from the US-led coordination center for postwar Gaza, the Financial Times reported Thursday, amid a growing spat over the expansion of Israel’s controversial E1 settlements plan.

A source familiar with the matter confirmed the report to The Times of Israel, adding that “other measures” against London are also under consideration.

The source, as well as a second Israeli official, denied, however, that Israel was considering expelling Italian or German officials from the hub, as the FT report had claimed.

The move is being weighed amid a spat between Israel and the United Kingdom over London’s reported plans to impose a complete ban on trade in goods from West Bank settlements along with other punitive measures in response to the expansion of Israel’s controversial E1 settlement plan, which would impede territorial contiguity between major Palestinian population centers.

The source familiar with the matter said that in a recent call between Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, “Sa’ar made very clear to the Foreign Secretary that Israel cannot allow punitive measures to be taken against it without responding.”

Measures more extreme than the possible expulsion of British officials from the International Gaza Support Center are also being considered, the source said, without elaborating.

Personnel work at the US-led Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC), in the southern town of Kiryat Gat, on November 19, 2025. (Ahikam Seri / AFP)

Given Israel’s sensitive pre-election period, the source said the punitive measures could be taken before the election is held on October 27 if the dispute is not resolved.

Two people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times that if Israel wants to remove international representatives from the center, it could require permission from the US-backed Board of Peace. However, a third individual told the newspaper that Israel had the right to decide who remained in its territory. The center is located in Kiryat Gat, in southern Israel.

“We continue to engage our Israeli counterparts on ways to maintain and strengthen multilateral co-ordination and to accelerate progress on the president’s Comprehensive Peace Plan for Gaza,” the Board of Peace said in a statement to the FT.

An unnamed British official told the newspaper that they would not be surprised if there was some form of “payback” for London’s stance on the settlement plan.

There was no official comment from Germany, the outlet said, while an Italian official apparently dismissed the idea that its officials could be expelled.

On Tuesday, Sa’ar announced that Dutch representatives would be expelled from the center after a series of “anti-Israel measures” by the Netherlands.

This picture taken from the ‘E1 corridor’ northeast of Jerusalem in the West Bank shows vehicles moving along a highway near the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim (top) on February 4, 2026. (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)

The apparent threat to expel British officials came amid a growing public row over Israel’s contentious West Bank plan, which would block territorial contiguity between major Palestinian population centers.

The planned E1 expansion would connect the Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim areas, effectively scuttling the prospect of contiguous Palestinian sovereignty between the population centers of Bethlehem, East Jerusalem and Ramallah — long considered the basis of a future Palestinian state.

The project was frozen for years amid fierce opposition from the international community, including past US administrations, which feared that building a new settlement neighborhood on the mostly empty tract of land would rule out the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends a press conference announcing his plans to approve more than 3,000 housing units in the E1 West Bank settlement project between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim on August 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Supporters of the E1 settlement expansion say they want to block Palestinian statehood. Last week, the government opened bidding for the construction of seven residential compounds with 1,234 housing units in the E1 area, after greenlighting the construction of roughly 3,400 units last August.

Miliband called the plan “unacceptable and destructive” in a written statement last week, and said his office was working to prepare a “comprehensive set of measures” in response, including sanctions against “those who participate in illegal settlement expansion.”

Sa’ar hit back at Miliband, calling his statement “patronizing,” and accused the British government of contributing “to a massive wave of antisemitic hatred and attacks against the British Jewish community” and harming the UK-Israeli relationship.

British media reported Wednesday that new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham was preparing to announce a complete trade ban on goods from West Bank settlements in response to the E1 plan.

Britain’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham speaks to the media after chairing a COBR meeting at Downing Street on the UK’s ongoing response to extreme heat, wildfires and drought in London, August 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, Pool)

At the same time, The Times reported Burnham could also enact sanctions against far-right ministers in the Israeli government and against individual settlers. The UK already sanctions and bans entry to far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Among those opposed to the planned trade ban was Labour Friends of Israel, a pro-Israel advocacy group within the center-left party.

In a lengthy statement on the matter on August 20, the group — which trumpets its support for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel — noted that major Israeli companies operate in areas that would be covered by the ban. Those include East Jerusalem, which Israel has annexed and considers part of its capital and sovereign territory.

Israeli forces stand guard during a raid on the UNRWA Vocational Training Center, located between the Kafr Aqab neighborhood and the Qalandiya refugee camp, in East Jerusalem, August 25, 2026. (Zain JAAFAR/AFP)

Because the Israeli economy is so intertwined with the settlements, and because companies tend to err on the side of caution in complying with such boycotts, the ban could amount to a “de facto boycott” of Israel as a whole, the statement said.

A spokesperson for the group also told the Telegraph that if imposed now, weeks before the October 27 election in Israel, the ban could unintentionally contribute to the “‘siege mentality’ of the Israeli right” and harm the chances of the opposition parties, which Labour Friends of Israel believes “will bring about a substantive change in direction” if successful at the ballot box.

However, the report said around 140 Labour MPs have signed a letter in support of the move, and the issue is expected to be discussed at the annual Labour Party conference in September.

Burnham, who entered 10 Downing Street on July 20, has taken a harder line against Israel than his predecessor, Keir Starmer.

In a leadership campaign video earlier this year, he said Britain should “do more to put pressure on the Israeli government,” including by considering further restrictions on arms exports and action against West Bank settlements.