Israel said the British consulate in east Jerusalem ended its functions on Thursday (October 8, 2026) but seven diplomats would be allowed to remain in a limited capacity, with the U.K. saying the outpost would continue to offer “vital services”.

The move comes after Israel ordered the closure of the consulate in September as retaliation after London-led Western sanctions over violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Thursday’s (October 8, 2026) move to downsize the U.K. presence had followed a dialogue with the British government in order to avoid an escalation of tensions between the two countries.

“As I announced, the British consulate in Jerusalem ended its role today,” Mr. Saar said in a statement, adding that 20 diplomats including the consul general were ending their missions and leaving the country.

Mr. Saar said the building was the property of the British government and that a “task force of only seven diplomats” would be allowed to operate from the premises, “which ceased to function as a consulate today”.

“Their scope of activity will be very limited,” Mr. Saar said, adding the two countries had “agreed on the continuation of dialogue between the governments”.

The U.K. pledged to continue delivering “vital services” in Jerusalem, saying the consulate general building would remain open and would “be known as the U.K. Mission, Jerusalem”.

“The U.K. Mission, Jerusalem is independent, operational and will continue to deliver vital services and our work with the Palestinian people,” Foreign Minister Ed Miliband said in a statement.

Mr. Miliband said the U.K. did not accept that the Israeli government had “the legal right” to enforce the closure.

“We will work in the coming months to build back up our presence and we will not take reciprocal action while such discussions are underway and credible,” he added.

The Palestinian Authority’s foreign affairs ministry denounced the move as “illegal” and said in a statement that it viewed it as “an attempt to impose Israeli sovereignty over the occupied city” of Jerusalem.

Israeli settlements

The British consulate was founded nearly 200 years ago, and lies in east Jerusalem, part of the historically Palestinian area that Israel captured in 1967.

Israel later annexed east Jerusalem and considers the holy city its undivided capital.

While Israel controls east Jerusalem, most countries including Britain do not recognise its sovereignty over the whole city.

Also Read | Britain bans trade with illegal Israeli settlements

The British consulate handles “political, commercial, security and economic interests between the U.K. and Palestine”, according to its website, as well as consular services for British nationals in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.

An AFP photographer on Thursday (October 8, 2026) saw that the diplomatic emblem and a plaque that adorned the consulate’s facade had been removed.

The measure has led Britain to lose a “historic and meaningful presence” in terms of their support for the Palestinians, an Israeli diplomatic source said.

“So yes, they keep the building” and a limited number of diplomats, the source told AFP, but “they have lost a historic and significant footprint”.

The source said they thought the recent dialogue between the British and Israeli governments would allow a “turning point” in deteriorating relations.

“If until a few weeks ago, until September 8, we were on a path of spiralling down, then I think the page has turned,” the source said.

“Dialogue is a path towards returning to… more constructive relations.”

September 8 was the day Mr. Saar ordered the consulate to close.

Also Read | Trade curbs on Israeli settlements in West Bank unlikely to have much bite

He also said Israel would expel British representatives at a centre monitoring the U.S.-brokered ceasefire plan in Gaza, bar British training for Palestinian Authority forces and ban 12 Britons, mostly members of parliament, from visiting.

Mr. Saar on Thursday (October 8, 2026) said those measures had been implemented.

The retaliation came after 12 countries including Britain, Canada and France announced they would sanction trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank, following a surge in settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied territory.

Published – October 08, 2026 10:39 pm IST

An Israeli armored personnel carrier moves along the border with the Gaza Strip, as seen from a position on the Israeli side of the border on November 11, 2024 in Southern Israel, Israel.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Monday (November 11, 2024) rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state as a “realistic” goal, amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

“I don’t think this position is realistic today and we must be realistic,” the newly appointed minister said in response to a question over the creation of a Palestinian state in exchange for a normalisation of ties between Israel and Arab countries.

Also read | Qatar halts its mediation efforts on Gaza, says the Hamas office ‘no longer serves its purpose’

A Palestinian state would be “a Hamas state”, Mr. Saar added, referring to the Palestinian militant group in Gaza with which Israel has been at war for more than a year.

The normalisation drive was a part of the 2020 Abraham Accords overseen by Donald Trump and the process could resume after he returns to the White House following last week’s US presidential election.

While he spoke in Jerusalem, Arab and Muslim leaders gathered in Saudi Arabia for a summit addressing the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, where Israel is also fighting Hamas ally Hezbollah.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry announced plans for the summit in late October during a meeting, also in Riyadh, of a new “international alliance” to press for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The current war in Gaza erupted with Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 last year, which resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed more than 43,603 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to data from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which like Hamas is backed by Iran, began firing on Israel after the October 7 attack.

The regular cross-border exchanges escalated in late September when Israel intensified its air strikes and sent ground troops into southern Lebanon.

Jerusalem:

A former minister and rival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined the government on Sunday, strengthening the current coalition as Israel fights militant groups on multiple fronts.

Gideon Saar, who has held several ministerial posts in past governments, joined the cabinet again as a minister without portfolio.

“I appreciate the fact that Gideon Saar has answered my request and agreed today to return to the government,” Netanyahu said in a televised statement.

“This move contributes to unity within us and unity against our enemies.”

Saar’s return gives Netanyahu an additional four seats in Israel’s parliament, bringing his total to 68 out of 120.

This makes Netanyahu less vulnerable to a defection from far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who has repeatedly threatened to bring down the government if it agrees to a truce deal with Hamas in the Gaza Strip or Hezbollah in Lebanon. 

But Saar, considered more right-wing than Netanyahu, has hawkish tendencies and has spoken out in favour of the annexation of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Just five years ago Saar openly challenged Netanyahu for leadership of Israel’s right-wing Likud party.

Although he took part in the emergency government formed in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attack that triggered the war in Gaza, he joined the opposition in March after failing to get a seat in the war cabinet.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Gideon Saar. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin on Sunday appointed a former rival, Gideon Saar, as a member of his Cabinet. The move expands Netanyahu’s governing coalition and helps entrench the Israeli leader in office.

Israel airstrike LIVE updates

Under their agreement, Mr. Netanyahu said Mr. Saar would be given a spot in the Security cabinet, the body that oversees the management of the ongoing war.

Mr. Saar had hoped to replace Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, another rival of Netanyahu’s. But a deal to become defense minister fell through several week ago after fighting intensified with Hezbollah.

A veteran Israeli minister who joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s emergency unity government after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack said on Monday he had resigned after not being included in the highest-level war cabinet.

Gideon Saar joined the unity government along with several other members of the opposition to help manage the war on Hamas in Gaza.

Mr. Saar’s departure, along with another of his allies, is not expected to affect the stability of Netanyahu’s government, which still controls a clear majority in parliament.

Mr. Saar was once a rival to Netanyahu in the right-wing Likud party before joining a more centrist bloc led by former military chief Benny Gantz. Together they entered the emergency government. Gantz became a member of the small-forum, decision-making war cabinet while Saar was left out.

“I can’t carry the responsibility if I do not have, in my judgment, a real possibility to influence the direction of policy. I simply do not see any benefit in this,” Mr. Saar said in broadcast remarks.

His resignation did not come as a surprise, as Mr. Saar had broken up the alliance with Gantz earlier this month.