The expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank is at its highest level since at least 2017, when the UN began tracking the data.
In 2025, “plans for nearly 47,390 housing units were advanced, approved, or tendered, compared with some 26,170 in 2024", said the report, according to a report by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, seen by AFP.
He condemned the “relentless” expansion, saying it “continues to fuel tensions, impede access by Palestinians to their land and threaten the viability of a fully independent, democratic, contiguous and sovereign Palestinian State”.
“These figures represent a sharp increase compared to previous years,” Mr Guterres added. An average of 12,815 housing units were added annually between 2017 and 2022, he said.
On Friday, Israel's cabinet decided to give legal status to 19 settlements in the West Bank, including two that were vacated 20 years ago under a withdrawal aimed at boosting the country's security and the economy, Israeli media reported.
Some of the settlements are newly established, while others are older, Israeli media said. The move to legalise the settlements in the West Bank – territory Palestinians seek for a future state – was proposed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz.
Most world powers consider Israel's settlements, on land it captured in a 1967 war, illegal. UN Security Council resolutions have called on Israel to halt all settlement activity.
Excluding East Jerusalem, which was occupied and annexed by Israel in 1967, about 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, along with about three million Palestinian residents.
“These developments are further entrenching the unlawful Israeli occupation and violating international law, and undermining the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination,” said Mr Guterres.
The UN chief also condemned the “continued escalation of violence and tensions in the occupied West Bank”. He cited operations by the Israeli army in the north that have killed a “high number” of people, displaced residents and destroyed homes and other infrastructure.
Violence in the West Bank has soared since Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel. Since then, more than 70,373 people have died in the Israel-Gaza war with over 171,079 wounded.
In the West Bank, Israeli forces or settlers have killed at least 1,022 Palestinians – militants and civilians – since the start of the conflict, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.
At least 44 Israelis have been killed in the West Bank in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations during the same period, according to Israeli data.
