He also said Israel should annex southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, and the parts of Gaza it still holds up to the so-called Yellow Line.
No response yet from the Palestinian Authority, Hamas or any other government. That's everything we know.
Why this mattersBezalel Smotrich isn't some backbench voice.
He's Israel's Finance Minister. And his party holds real power inside the governing coalition.
So when he talks, the coalition has to answer for it.
He's said things like this before. He's called for Israel to annex more than 80 per cent of the West Bank. He's running an election campaign built on expanding settlements, ahead of next month's vote.
But this isn't about settlements anymore. This is about a full military campaign. The size of the one Israel just ran in Gaza.
Here's exactly what he said Israeli forces should do. He says quote "no terrorists, no weapons, no tunnels" — just like Gaza.
So a government minister is asking the army to run a Gaza-style campaign in the West Bank. A campaign that has killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza.
And the West Bank is already getting worse. Violence against Palestinians there has been rising since October 2023. This year, it's picked up sharply.
The UN has the numbers. Its agency OCHA recorded more than 1,330 settler attacks on Palestinians between January and late July this year. That's six a day. The highest rate in about 20 years.
Rights groups say some of these settlers now carry military-issued weapons. Some wear military uniforms. So it's getting harder to tell a settler from a soldier.
A few hours ago, hundreds of Israelis entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, under Israeli police protection, and carried out Talmudic rituals there, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Israel has also just put the whole West Bank under military closure, citing the Sukkot holiday. That closure runs until 3 October.
So the timing matters. A senior minister calling for war in the West Bank, on the same day as a full military closure and a mass entry to one of the region's most contested holy sites.
What isn't clear yet: whether Smotrich is describing an actual plan, or making a political statement before next month's election. It's also not known whether the rest of Israel's coalition will back him or step away from what he said.
No Palestinian group has responded yet. Neither has any other government.
