Updated

Hours after the British announcement on 8 September 2026, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said Israel would close the British consulate in Jerusalem, expel representatives of the Gaza and Palestinian Authority missions operating in connection with it, and bar certain British parliamentarians from entering the country, calling the UK settlement sanctions "outrageous." Israel's Foreign Ministry subsequently named 11 British lawmakers and a lawyer who would be denied entry. The British consulate in Jerusalem has historically served as the main UK diplomatic channel to the Palestinians, so its closure would sever a long-standing link between London and Ramallah. Miliband called the Israeli response damaging, and a UK official described Jerusalem's countersteps as "not constructive," signalling that the diplomatic rupture between the two governments was likely to widen.