The British government warned that expelling its officials from the Civil Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat would undermine shared peace efforts in Gaza, responding a day after a Financial Times report said Israel was considering the move. A UK spokesperson said removing the UK or other partners would undermine these shared efforts, without addressing the settlement dispute that prompted the threat.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz did not soften the dispute in his own response, accusing Britain of contributing to a massive wave of antisemitic hatred. The coordination center is a US led body with representatives from more than 20 countries overseeing Gaza operations, and the Netherlands already had its own representatives expelled on Tuesday over what Israel called anti Israel measures.
The underlying dispute is Israel's E1 settlement project, which would connect Jerusalem and Maale Adumim. The government approved roughly 3,400 housing units there in August 2025, and opened bidding on 1,234 additional units last week, a pace that has hardened rather than softened London's opposition. The UK has been preparing a trade ban on West Bank settlement goods in response.
A warning about undermining peace efforts and a threat to remove the country issuing it now sit on the same table inside a facility built to coordinate a war, not referee a settlement dispute between two governments. Neither side has said which pressure point, trade or presence in the room, will move first.