ISTANBUL

The Israeli Knesset (parliament) voted Wednesday for a non-binding motion for the agenda to annex the occupied West Bank.

The motion was backed by 71 members of the 120-seat assembly against 13 votes, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported.

According to the daily, the proposal is not legally or legislatively binding but rather “a declaration by Knesset.”

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Middle East War.

Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the occupied territory by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.