The move has gotten several experts, as well as social media users, to react. Many are wondering if it was a blunder – or a hint about Netanyahu's plans for the future of the Palestinian territory.
"This speech will go down in history as Netanyahu's open acknowledgment to the world that Israel will remain between the river and the sea for an indefinite period, as long as he is in power," writes think tank International Crisis Group's Israel analyst Mairav Zonszein on X, referring to the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
The borders of Gaza were, however, clearly marked on Netanyahu's map.
The West Bank lies west of the Jordan River and was occupied by Israel in connection with the Six-Day War in 1967. The area has approximately three million Palestinian inhabitants, but also houses hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers. According to the Oslo Accords of the 1990s, the Palestinians were to gradually gain more power and control over the entire West Bank, but that has not happened.
Right-wing forces in Israel believe that the country has a right to large parts of the West Bank – or all of it.
