Israel’s government has approved 5,295 new housing units in a host of illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank, as well as recognising three new settlement outposts in the Palestinian territory, according to a watchdog group.
Israeli NGO Peace Now reported the move on Thursday, a day after the group said Israel’s government has approved the largest West Bank land seizure in more than three decades.
The construction of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory is illegal under international law and settlement expansion is seen as a major hindrance to the viability of a future Palestinian state.
The new approvals are all but assured to further stoke tensions at a time when Palestinians across the occupied West Bank are facing increased raids by Israeli forces and settlers amid Israel’s continuing war in Gaza.
“Our government continues to change the rules of the game in the occupied West Bank, leading to irreversible harm,” Peace Now said in a statement on Thursday, in which it condemned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Smotrich, himself a settler, has overseen a major escalation in settler expansion under Netanyahu’s leadership. He is also among the far-right politicians the prime minister has come to rely on for political survival.
“This annexationist government severely undermines the security and future of both Israelis and Palestinians, and the cost of this recklessness will be paid for generations to come,” said Peace Now, which also condemned the appointment of Smotrich’s key allies to the body that approves settlements.
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