Israel approves 19 new West Bank settlements, 'blocking' a Palestinian state

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

64% : A UN report said the expansion of settlements was at its highest point since 2017, when the United Nations began tracking such data.
56% : * West Bank settlements are at their highest level since 2017, according to the UN.
54% : * Israel approved 19 new West Bank settlements.
54% : "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, without specifying when the decision was taken.
52% : Israel's security cabinet approved the establishment of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move the country's far-right finance minister said on Sunday was aimed at preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.
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.
37% : READ | Israel kills Palestinian in West Bank amid push to expand illegal settlements Smotrich is a vocal proponent of settlement expansion and a settler himself.
36% : " UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has recently condemned what he described as Israel's "relentless" expansion of settlements in the occupied territory.
33% : The latest approvals come days after the United Nations said the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank - all of which are considered illegal under international law - had reached its highest level since at least 2017.
29% : * UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Israel's expansion of settlements.
24% : US President Donald Trump has warned Israel about annexing the West Bank.
18% : Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and violence there has soared since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023 following Hamas' attack on Israel.

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