Israel’s Cabinet has approved plans for 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, further accelerating settlement expansion that critics say undermines prospects for a future Palestinian state.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the decision raises the total number of newly approved settlements in recent years to 69, the highest on record. The latest approvals include two settlements that were evacuated during Israel’s 2005 disengagement plan.
According to the anti-settlement group Peace Now, the move increases the number of West Bank settlements by nearly 50 percent under the current far-right government. There were 141 settlements in 2022, a figure that has now risen to 210. Settlements are widely regarded as illegal under international law.
Smotrich’s office said the Cabinet approved the decision on Dec 11, though it had not been made public until now. The decision includes retroactive legalization of some settlement outposts and approval of construction on land from which Palestinians had previously been evacuated.
The move comes as the United States is pressing Israel and Hamas to advance the second phase of a Gaza ceasefire that includes discussion of a possible pathway to a Palestinian state, an outcome settlement expansion is widely seen as obstructing.
Two of the settlements legalized in the latest decision are Kadim and Ganim, which were dismantled in 2005 as part of Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza. Israel repealed the law barring resettlement of those areas in 2023.
Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza in the 1967 war. More than 500,000 Jews now live in West Bank settlements, in addition to over 200,000 in east Jerusalem. The current government includes strong supporters of the settler movement.
Settlement expansion has coincided with a surge in settler violence against Palestinians in recent months. The United Nations has reported a sharp rise in attacks, including arson, vandalism and destruction of farmland, with limited intervention by Israeli authorities.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Health Ministry said two Palestinians, including a 16-year-old, were killed in clashes with Israeli forces in the northern West Bank on Saturday night. Israel’s military said the incidents involved militants attacking troops and that at least one case is under review.
Israel has intensified military operations in the West Bank since the Oct 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.