Hamas: Israeli takeover of West Bank to be met with further 'resistance'

Hamas on Thursday responded to far-right Israeli cabinet member Bezalel Smotrich, who had announced hours earlier his plans for Israeli "sovereignty" over the entirety of the West Bank as he visited settlements there deemed illegal under international law. 

The plans, Hamas said in a statement, "are colonialist illusions that will collapse under the rock of our people's steadfastness," and "nothing more than a continuation of the policy of imposing a fait accompli, which has failed over decades of occupation and will not succeed now."

"The annexation project and the imposition of alleged sovereignty will only be met with greater steadfastness and resistance," the group said.