Israel approves 19 new settlements in West Bank

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

61% : 'Sharp increase' in Israeli occupation A UN report said the expansion of settlements was at its highest point since 2017, when the United Nations began tracking such data.
53% : "The proposal by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defence Minister Israel Katz to declare and formalise 19 new settlements in Judea and Samaria has been approved by the cabinet," the statement said, using the Israeli biblical term for the West Bank, without specifying when the decision was made.
49% : The expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank has reached its highest level since at least 2017 Israel approved the establishment of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move the far-right finance minister said on Sunday was aimed at preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.
47% : ALSO READ: Israel and Hamas accuse each other of breaching Gaza truce amid strikes, clashes Smotrich's office said the 19 newly approved settlements are located in what it described as "highly strategic" areas, adding that two of them - Ganim and Kadim in the northern West Bank - would be re-established after being dismantled two decades ago. Five of the 19 settlements already existed but had not previously been granted legal status under Israeli law, the statement said.
47% : "Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened," Trump said in a recent interview with Time magazine.
46% : Since the start of the war in Gaza, calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state have proliferated, with several European countries, Canada and Australia recently moving to formally recognise such a state, drawing rebukes from Israel.
45% : " Excluding east Jerusalem, which was occupied and annexed by Israel in 1967, more than 500 000 Israelis live in the West Bank, along with about three million Palestinian residents.
40% : The latest approvals come days after the United Nations said the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank - all of which are illegal under international law - had reached its highest level since at least 2017.
34% : ALSO READ: SA calls on Israel to cease 'illegal occupation' of Palestine to achieve peace 'Blocking the establishment of Palestinian terror state' Smotrich is a vocal proponent of settlement expansion and a settler himself.
34% : Fears that Israel is annexing West Bank
20% : US President Donald Trump has warned Israel against annexing the West Bank.
20% : Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, where violence has surged since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023 following Hamas's attack on Israel. Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1 027 Palestinians in the West Bank - both militants and civilians - since the start of the fighting in Gaza, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.
11% : " ALSO READ: Israel launches new West Bank operation targeting armed groups UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently condemned what he described as Israel's "relentless" expansion of settlements in the occupied territory.

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