The Israeli government has approved plans to build nearly 5,300 new homes in settlements in the occupied West Bank, a monitoring group said Thursday, in a new move in a campaign to accelerate settler expansion.
Israel seeks to consolidate its control over the illegally occupied territory of West Bank e prevent the establishment of a future Palestinian state. The Israeli group Peace Now, an NGO that documents the occupation of Palestinian territories and critically monitors settlements, indicated that the Netanyahu government’s High Planning Council had approved or advanced plans for 5,295 homes in dozens of settlements throughout the West Bank.
He Netanyahu government it is dominated by settlers and his supporters. The hardline nationalist Finance Minister Bazalel Smotrich, a settler, has been put in charge of settlement policy. On Wednesday, Peace Now said Israel approved the largest land confiscation in the West Bank in more than three decades.
The intense settlement campaign threatens further stoking tensions in the West Bankwho has experienced a increase in violence since it began war in Gaza on October 7.
Ceasefire negotiations could resume
The news coincides with the announcement made by an Israeli official about the decision of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to send negotiators to resume conversations on the ceasefire in Gaza.
Diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war in Gaza appear to be regaining pulse after a week’s break. The night before, the Islamist group Hamas said it had given mediators its final response to a US-backed proposal for a gradual ceasefire.
Los fighting they have intensified in between Israel and Lebanese Shia group Hezbollahwho claimed this Thursday to have fired more than 200 rockets and explosive drones to northern Israel to avenge the killing of a senior commander in an Israeli airstrike the day before.
The relatively low-intensity conflict has literally set the border on fire and raised fears about a possible escalation of tension leading to an even more devastating war in middle East. Hezbollah has said that it will stop its attacks if a ceasefire is reached between Hamas and Israel.
