Honduras announced Sunday that it hoped to relocate its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem before the end of the year, a move likely to anger the Palestinians. 

Israel will also open a diplomatic office in Tegucigalpa, Honduras's capital city.  
"I have just talked to Prime Minister Netanyahu to strengthen our strategic alliance and agree on the opening of embassies in Tegucigalpa and Jerusalem, respectively," Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez said on Twitter.  

"We hope to take this historic step before the end of the year, as long as the pandemic allows," he wrote.  

Hernandez last year began a process of breaking with his country's long-held policy of neutrality in the face of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He opened a commercial headquarters in Jerusalem in September 2019 as an extension of the Honduran embassy in Tel Aviv.  

Israel opened a representative office in Tegucigalpa last month.  

"Honduras recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and we are confident that this recognition will be of great blessing and mutual benefit," Hernandez said when the office was opened. 

Only two countries – the United States and Guatemala – have already opened embassies in Jerusalem. The Honduran statement followed announcements by U.S. President Donald Trump and Netanyahu this month who said Kosovo and Serbia would also open embassies in Jerusalem. 

The status of Jerusalem has been one of the thorniest issues in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, as the capital of a future state. Israel regards all of the city, including the eastern sector it annexed after the 1967 war, as its capital. 

(With input from AFP, Reuters)