Israel is "heavily intensifying" settlement building in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian official warned Thursday.
"The Israeli government has approved 103 new settlement projects since its formation in late 2022," Mu'ayyad Shaaban, head of the official Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, said in a statement.
"These sites include settlements and outposts that have begun to be legalized, as well as neighborhoods that are being transformed into separate settlements", he added.
The Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now said early Thursday that the government has allocated 152 million shekels ($51 million) to prepare construction plans for 69 illegal settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank.
The group also said the government was preparing a draft resolution to allocate another $337 million to establish new illegal settlements and outposts in the occupied territory.
"The new funding targets some 61 settlement sites whose construction have not completed in order to turn them into fully established settlement blocs," Shaaban said.
He pointed out that the Israeli Civil Administration issued orders last week to define and expand the structural boundaries of illegal settlements, including new settlement sites approved by the government.
"What is happening is not just routine settlement expansion, but rather an advanced stage of reshaping Palestinian geography and imposing new realities on the ground," he added.
He warned that the Israeli settlement policy seeks "to deepen the Palestinian geographical isolation and undermine development opportunities."
Palestinian authorities have for decades called on the international community to pressure Israel to halt settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, which the United Nations considers illegal under international law.
Since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, Palestinian officials say Israeli measures aimed at annexing the West Bank have intensified, including home demolitions, forced displacement and settlement expansion.
About 500,000 illegal Israeli settlers live in illegal settlements across the West Bank, while another 250,000 live in settlements built on Palestinian land in occupied East Jerusalem, according to Peace Now.
Israeli forces and occupiers have killed at least 1,169 Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, injured more than 12,600, and detained around 23,000 since October 2023, Palestinian figures showed.
In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
