RAMALLAH, Palestine/ISTANBUL

Israel has confiscated over 112 acres (455.6 dunams) of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank for settlement expansion, a government body said Tuesday.

The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CWRC) said in a statement that the confiscation came as the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was discussing a possible annexation of the occupied territory.

The commission said over 112 acres or 455.6 dunams (455,600 square meters) of land were seized by Israel in the northern towns of Jit and Far'ata, east of Qalqilya, and in Tell in western Nablus.

Israeli authorities designated the seized territory “state land,” a term used by Tel Aviv to confiscate Palestinian land in the West Bank.

The targeted area includes the settlement outpost of Havat Gilad, established in 2003 on Palestinian land of Jit, Farata, and Tell towns.

The commission said the land confiscation aims to legalize the Havat Gilad outpost in the area. The Israeli government already said it plans to legalize the site.

On Aug. 20, Israel approved a major settlement project, called E1, which aims to split the occupied West Bank into two parts, cutting off the northern cities of Ramallah and Nablus from Bethlehem and Hebron in the south and isolating East Jerusalem.

The international community, including the UN, considers the Israeli settlements illegal under international law. The UN has repeatedly warned that continued settlement expansion threatens the viability of a two-state solution, a framework seen as key to resolving the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, at least 1,016 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, according to the Health Ministry.

In an advisory opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.