Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced that the British Consulate General in Jerusalem "ceased to function as a consulate today," saying the British consul general and 20 diplomats would end their missions and leave Israel.

"We agreed to allow the British government to keep a working team of only seven diplomats in the building that has stopped operating as a consulate today," Sa’ar said, adding that Israel "will no longer turn its cheek to diplomatic attacks against it."

The move follows Britain’s Sept. 8 ban on trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The consulate sign was removed from the building, while London said it would not expel Israeli diplomats in response.