Israeli Foreign Minister Warns They May 'Topple Abbas' If Palestinians Win UN Bid

The same day Israel announced they had struck and killed the military chief of Hamas in Gaza, an internal document obtained by Reuters shows Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman mulling the possibility of "toppling [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas and dismantling the Palestinian Authority" in response to the Palestinian push for U.N. non-member state status.

In a speech on Wednesday, Lieberman said Israel may "punish" the Palestinians if their bid passes in the U.N. The Palestinian delegation has already taken concrete steps toward U.N. statehood, the New York Times reported, and the vote, which is scheduled for Nov. 29, is likely to pass.

In response, Israel has warned it may "annul the Oslo Accords if Palestinians seek upgraded UN status," Haartez reported. Other options listed by Lieberman include stopping funding for the Palestinian Authority, or canceling work permits for Palestinians working in Israel.

"The Palestinian resolution is a clear violation of the fundamental principle of negotiations," wrote Israel's U.N. Ambassador Roni Leshno-Yaar in a statement, "and is a violation of the agreements between Israel and the PLO. The adoption of the resolution will give Israel the right to re-evaluate previous agreements with the PLO and consider canceling them partially or completely, and would make progress in the peace process more difficult in the future."

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Ben Dor told the BBC that the U.N. bid is a breach of the Oslo Accords in the first place, and that Israel would "take unilateral steps to protect its interests," in the case the vote passes.

Israel and the U.S. have categorically opposed any routes to Palestinian statehood that are not bilateral, Reuters said.

Lieberman, not wanting to sound unreasonable, also wrote in the same document that if the Palestinians withdraw their U.N. bid, then Israel will "reach an agreement…for a Palestinian state along provisional borders," until such time as the Arab world stabilizes.

Reports of new Israeli strikes in Gaza also began surfacing, as Israeli declared a new offensive, "Operation Pillars of Defense" against Hamas in Gaza.