Israel has approved the construction of 764 houses in three Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Wednesday.
The decision is likely to stoke tensions in the Palestinian territory, which has witnessed record levels of settler violence against Palestinians this year.
Mr Smotrich, who oversees settlement policy and is a settler himself, said Israel's Higher Planning Council had approved 478 housing units in the Hashmonaim settlement, 230 units in the Beitar Illit settlement, and 56 in the Givat Zeev settlement.
The approvals are part of a “clear strategic move to strengthen settlement and ensure continuity of life, security and growth” and put the total housing units approved in the West Bank since Mr Smotrich assumed his post at 51,370, the minister said in a statement.
Most of the international community considers the settlements to be illegal under international law. The UN Security Council has passed numerous resolutions against their expansion.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the approvals as part of a “destructive policy, which aims to ignite the region, drag it into a cycle of violence and wars, and undermine any effort to pull the region out of ongoing turmoil”, the Wafa news agency reported.
He demanded that the US pressure Israel to stop settlement expansion, saying this was “essential to ensure the success of President Trump’s efforts and endeavours to stop the war and achieve stability in the region”.
The approvals come less than a month after an Israeli government document revealed plans to seize parts of a major West Bank historic site. In August, Israeli authorities approved construction of a settlement project in the territory that would effectively cut it in two.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has come under heavy criticism from Palestinians and rights groups for accelerating settlement expansion in the West Bank, which they say is aimed at preventing the establishment of a future Palestinian state.
Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza – areas claimed by the Palestinians for a future state – in the 1967 Middle East war. It has settled more 500,000 Jews in the West Bank, in addition to more than 200,000 in East Jerusalem.
The Israeli government is dominated by far-right proponents of the settler movement, including Mr Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the police force.
Settler expansion has been compounded by a surge of attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank in recent months.
During October’s olive harvest, settlers across the territory launched an average of eight attacks daily, according to the United Nations humanitarian office, the most since it began collecting data in 2006. The attacks continued in November, with the UN recording at least 136 more by November 24.
Settlers have burnt cars, desecrated mosques, ransacked industrial plants and destroyed cropland, with Israeli authorities doing little beyond issuing occasional condemnations of the violence.
