Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed at a cabinet meeting on Sunday to expand operations against Palestinian “terrorist strongholds” in the West Bank, after a deadly Friday shootout sparked when settlers illegally entered a Nablus-area village.

Katz took Democrats party chief Yair Golan to task for blaming the gunfight on settler extremists and the government. Other ministers at the meeting called for a harsh response against Palestinians, and for the Israel Defense Forces to give troops greater leeway to open fire, according to leaks carried by Hebrew media.

The weekly cabinet meeting was held in a secure underground location for unspecified security reasons, amid concern of an escalation in the war with Iran, even after the US over the weekend paused its nightly strikes on the Islamic Republic.

Speaking at the start of the meeting, Netanyahu said that during his trip to the US this week he and US President Donald Trump would discuss “all the issues currently on the agenda, including the situation in Iran.”

Netanyahu is set to depart Monday and attend the funeral of US Senator Lindsey Graham, who died on July 11.

The hawkish South Carolina Republican was “one of Israel’s greatest friends since the state’s establishment, and it is fitting that we pay him this honor,” Netanyahu said at the cabinet meeting.

Netanyahu also said he spoke over the phone Saturday night with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who promised to act against the International Criminal Court.

The Hague-based court, which issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza, “endangers justice around the world and also threatens the right of democratic, sovereign states to exercise their sovereignty,” the prime minister........

© The Times of Israel