Israel steps up West Bank annexation drive

Israel has approved more than $400 million to establish dozens of new settlements in the occupied West Bank, despite international condemnation of what critics describe as the de facto annexation of Palestinian territory.

The West Bank, which was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, is home to around 3 million Palestinians and more than 500,000 Israeli settlers. Along with East Jerusalem and Gaza, it is envisioned as the core of a future Palestinian state under the internationally backed two-state solution.

The Israeli government said on Tuesday that the security cabinet allocated 1.3 billion shekels ($431 million) to establish 34 new settlements in the West Bank. The decision was announced by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a West Bank settler who oversees civilian affairs in the territory and has pledged to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state.

Calling the decision “historic” and “a day of celebration for Israel and settlements,” Smotrich said another 1.075 billion shekels would soon be allocated to build roads serving the new communities.

“We are strengthening the security of the State of Israel, killing the idea of establishing a terrorist state in the heart of the country, and strengthening our hold on the homeland in Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich said, using the biblical term for the West Bank.

Hamas condemned the plan as a “dangerous and criminal” step toward annexing the occupied territory, as cited by PressTV. The group accused Israel of seeking full control of the West Bank and urged Palestinians to intensify resistance, while calling on the UN and the international community to move beyond verbal condemnation and take practical steps to halt settlement expansion.

Israel has faced growing criticism over its West Bank settlement moves. While successive governments have stopped short of formally annexing the region, critics, including the UN, Arab states, and many Western allies, say the policy fragments Palestinian territory and further undermines the viability of a two-state solution.

Israel argues that the West Bank is disputed territory with deep historical and biblical ties to the Jewish people.
Settlement approvals reached a record 54 in 2025 and 103 overall with the latest announcement. Earlier this year, the security cabinet transferred more authority from the military to civilian ministries, introduced a process to register West Bank land as ‘state property’, and allowed Israeli citizens to purchase land directly in the territory.

The settlement drive has been accompanied by rising violence in the West Bank since the Gaza war began in 2023. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), at least 117 Palestinian communities have been completely or partially displaced by settler attacks, which have more than doubled from around 850 in 2022 to over 1,820 in 2025.

Israeli human rights group B’Tselem says Israeli military operations and settler attacks have killed more than 230 Palestinian children since 2023.

Israeli public opinion has been divided over the settlement policy. A March 2025 Jewish People Policy Institute survey found that 58% of Jewish Israelis see them as enhancing national security, while 35% view them as a liability. Among Arab Israelis, 63% consider them a burden rather than a security asset.