Israeli Cabinet approves 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s Cabinet on Sunday approved a proposal for 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, the far-right finance minister said.

The settlements include two that were previously evacuated during a 2005 disengagement plan, according to Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich, who has pushed a settlement expansion agenda in the West Bank.

It brings the total number of new settlements over the past two years to 69, Smotrich wrote on X.

The approval increases the number of settlements in the West Bank by nearly 50% during the current government’s tenure, from 141 in 2022 to 210, after the current approval, according to Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group. Settlements are widely considered illegal under international law.

The approval comes as the U.S. is pushing Israel and Hamas to move ahead with the new phase of the Gaza ceasefire, which took effect Oct. 10. The U.S.-brokered plan calls for a possible “pathway” to a Palestinian state — something the settlements are aimed at preventing.

The Cabinet decision included a retroactive legalization of some previously established settlement outposts and the creation of settlements on land where Palestinians were evacuated, Peace Now said.

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