Israeli ministers on Tuesday laid the foundation stone for a new project to build 350 settler units in the Beit El settlement near the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, Public Security Minister Amir Ohana, Education Minister Yoav Gallant and Regional Cooperation Minister Ofir Akunis along with Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin and other Knesset members participated in the ceremony to build the new settlement units, according to Israeli Channel 20.
"Settlements and land of Israel are more important than any person or any political situation," Edelstein, who is a member of the ruling Likud Party, told the ceremony.
Gallant, for his part, said his government has solidified Jewish settlement construction in the Beit El settlement, which he described as an "Israeli city where ancestors lived".
The Israeli government has approved the construction of the new 350 settler units in Beit El settlement at the end of 2020.
International law regards both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there illegal.
