TEL AVIV – On Sunday, Israel’s Cabinet gave the green light to a proposal for the establishment of 19 new settlements in the West Bank, according to the country’s far-right Finance Minister, Betzalel Smotrich.

The decision includes the re-establishment of two settlements that were dismantled as part of a 2005 disengagement strategy. Smotrich, a strong proponent of settlement expansion in the West Bank, announced these plans following the Cabinet’s approval.

Smotrich also noted on social media platform X that this move brings the total number of new settlements over the past two years to 69.

According to Peace Now, an organization opposing settlement expansion, this approval marks a nearly 50% increase in West Bank settlements under the current administration. The number of settlements has risen from 141 in 2022 to 210 following this latest decision. It is important to note that these settlements are largely viewed as illegal under international law.

This development occurs amidst U.S. efforts to encourage Israel and Hamas to advance with the new phase of the Gaza ceasefire, initiated on October 10. The U.S.-brokered ceasefire plan includes a potential “pathway” to establishing a Palestinian state, a prospect that settlement expansion seeks to obstruct.

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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