(CNN) The State Department on Monday denied that the removal of a listing for the Palestinian Territories from its website constituted a change in policy.

"Website is being updated. There has been no change to our policy," a State Department official said in a statement. Asked whether the listing would be added back to the website, the official reiterated that the site is being updated.

It is unclear when exactly the listing for the territories, which was once included as one of the "countries and other areas" under the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, was removed. It was active until at least February 2019, according to an archived version of the page. The State Department unveiled its modernized website in June 2019, and the link for the Palestinian Territories now redirects to a message about that modernization.

"Welcome to state.gov. We recently modernized our website. Part of this modernization was to reduce the number of pages on the current state.gov website by not moving items that are in existence on our archive sites. This keeps the content on the current state.gov current while older content remains intact and fully accessible on our archive sites," the message says.

The omission of the Palestinian Territories drew outrage from Palestinian officials.

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