ISTANBUL

Israel on Sunday approved a new settlement plan to seize 35 dunams (9 acres) of land from the Palestinian village of Kafr Qaddum, east of Qalqilya in the northern West Bank, a local official said.

Munif Nazzal, who monitors settlement building at the Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, told the official news agency Wafa the plan envisions the construction of 58 new settler units at the Mitzpe Yeshai settlement, which is built on the village’s land.

The UN affirms that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law and undermine the possibility of implementing a two-state solution.

In early September, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced plans to annex 82% of the occupied West Bank.

Such a move would effectively end the prospect of realizing the two-state solution endorsed by UN resolutions.

The announcement comes as Israeli forces and illegal settlers have carried out more than 38,000 attacks across the occupied West Bank since Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission.

The violence has resulted in the displacement of 33 Bedouin communities, and the establishment of 114 new illegal settler outposts.

The commission further reported that 767 fires were deliberately set on Palestinian homes and lands, while over 1,000 demolitions destroyed nearly 3,700 structures, including homes and agricultural facilities.

Since the beginning of the Gaza war, Israeli forces have imposed more than 900 permanent and temporary checkpoints across the West Bank, restricting movement across the occupied territory.

According to official Palestinian figures, at least 1,048 Palestinians have been killed, and around 10,300 injured, since October 2023.

Israel has occupied Palestinian territories, as well as land in Syria and Lebanon, for decades and continues to reject withdrawal and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on pre-1967 borders.