Israel has ordered the closure of the British consulate in occupied East Jerusalem in response to sweeping UK sanctions on goods from illegal settlements, according to the Guardian. The announcement marks a sharp escalation in tensions between the two governments.

Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, announced the retaliatory measures, which include the consulate closure and entry bans on several UK MPs. Sa’ar accused the UK of “systemically working against the state of Israel,” the Guardian reported.

The Israeli response followed UK criticism of settler activity in the occupied West Bank. Ed Miliband described violent Jewish settler activity as “ethnic cleansing” carried out with the tacit backing of the Netanyahu government, according to the Guardian.

Ahead of the sanctions, Israeli president Isaac Herzog warned that Britain would be “on the wrong side of history” if it proceeded with plans to ban trade with the illegal settlements on the West Bank. Herzog said that if the sanctions went ahead – and other nations joined – it would “prove to be a grave miscalculation.”

Herzog referred to the settlements using the term “Judea and Samaria” and anticipated headlines announcing “certain British trade sanctions on Israeli settlements.” The UK government has stepped up its condemnation of the settlements alongside the new sanctions, the Guardian reported.

The developments unfolded during a busy day in UK politics. The Liberal Democrats said they had been granted a Commons urgent question on the latest Argentinian threats to the Falkland Islands, with a Foreign Office minister due to respond, according to the Guardian.