Vehicles approach the British consulate, with signage removed near the entrance, on the deadline set by Israel for its closure following British trade sanctions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, in East Jerusalem, 8 October 2026;
Credit: Reuters/Ammar Awad
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - On Thursday 8 October 2026, the UK said its nearly 200-year-old consulate in Jerusalem would remain operating at a smaller scale, renamed as the "UK Mission" in the city, after Israel ordered it shut in a dispute over sanctions on settlements.
Israel last month issued a 30-day deadline for the UK to close the consulate after London announced sanctions targeting Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a dispute that has strained relations between the long-standing allies. The deadline expired on Thursday.
Gideon Saar, Israel's foreign minister, said in a statement that the consulate, in East Jerusalem, would formally end operations but that some British diplomats would be allowed to continue work in the building under a deal struck between Israel and the UK.
Saar's British counterpart, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, said his country does not accept that Israel has the legal right to close the consulate. The consulate is in a part of the city Israel captured in the 1967 war, which Israel later annexed in a move that most countries do not recognise.
Miliband said that following discussions with Israel, "our Consulate General building will not be closing, and will be known as the UK Mission, Jerusalem from today."
Miliband said the UK Mission would continue to "deliver vital services and our work with the Palestinian people."
Workers remove signage from сonsulate building
Earlier on Thursday, Reuters journalists saw workers in the consulate remove a plaque reading "British Consulate General" and another sign for its consular section. The British flag was still flying over the building.
Israel last month ordered the UK to close the consulate within 30 days and remove its diplomats from the city, after the UK announced sanctions targeting Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including a trade ban on goods made there.
The United Nations and most countries consider the Israeli settlements to be illegal under international law. Israel disputes this.
Israel has been adamant the consulate will close even as the UK sought to keep it open, including sending the country's top national security adviser to Israel last week for talks.
The UK's consulate was founded in 1839, long before the State of Israel was established in 1948. The closure order does not affect the UK's embassy in Tel Aviv, which handles diplomatic relations with Israel's government.
The consulate, in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, handles the UK's relations with Palestinians in Jerusalem, as well as in the West Bank and Gaza. It also provides consular services to Palestinians.
The British sanctions announcement, and Israel's order to close the consulate, mark a new low in a relationship that has deteriorated over the past three years. The UK has repeatedly criticised Israel over its actions in the war in Gaza and over Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, which faces an election later this month, has accused the UK's governing Labour Party of being hostile towards Israel.
