The decision has drawn condemnation from Palestinian officials, who describe it as a breach of international law, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
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In a statement, the US embassy said consular officers would offer routine passport services in Efrat for one day as part of an outreach initiative aimed at reaching American citizens.
The embassy said further visits are planned in the coming months to the settlement of Beitar Illit near Bethlehem, the Palestinian city of Ramallah, and Israeli cities including Haifa, Jerusalem, Netanya and Beit Shemesh.
The United States currently provides passport and other consular services at its embassy in Jerusalem and at a branch office in Tel Aviv. Tens of thousands of dual American-Israeli nationals are estimated to live in the West Bank.
Efrat lies south of Bethlehem in the area known as Gush Etzion. About 12,000 Israelis live there. The settlement is located in Area C of the West Bank, which comprises roughly 60 per cent of the territory and remains under full Israeli control under the Oslo Accords.
Most of the international community regards Israeli settlements in territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war as illegal under international law. Israel disputes that interpretation. More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, which is home to around three million Palestinians.
The Palestinian Authority’s Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission condemned the US move. In a statement, the commission said the decision “constitutes a clear violation of international law and a blatant favouring of the occupation authorities”. Its head, Muayyad Shubban, called on Washington to reverse the decision and urged other states not to legitimise the settlement system.
Hamas described the plan as a dangerous step that supports what it called Israel’s plans to Judaise the territory.
The announcement follows recent comments by US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who said in an interview with podcast host Tucker Carlson that Area C is part of Israel. His remarks drew criticism from Arab and Muslim governments. Official US policy does not recognise Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank.
Israel’s government has taken further steps this month to tighten control over the territory. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet approved measures to make it easier to register West Bank land as Israeli state property. Palestinian officials described the action as a de facto annexation.
More than 80 United Nations member states have condemned Israel’s recent measures in the West Bank. The International Court of Justice has previously stated that settlements in occupied Palestinian territory breach international law.
President Donald Trump has said he opposes formal annexation of the West Bank. His administration has not introduced measures to halt settlement expansion. During his first term, Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved the US embassy there. The United States also recognised Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, something that other countries have not recognised.
The Israeli foreign ministry welcomed the embassy’s decision. In a post on X, it thanked Huckabee and described the move as an expansion of services to US citizens in “Judea and Samaria”, the term used by the Israeli government for the West Bank.
