Israel’s government has approved 22 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, its finance minister said on Thursday, a move condemned by Israeli human rights groups that may strain ties with key allies that have threatened sanctions.
Bezalel Smotrich, an ultra-nationalist in the ruling right-wing coalition who has long advocated for Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, wrote on social media platform X that the settlements would be located in the northern West Bank, without specifying exactly where.
Israeli media cited the Defence Ministry as saying that among the new settlements, existing “outposts” would be legalized under Israeli law and new settlements would also be built.
A spokesperson for Defence Minister Israel Katz did not respond to a text message seeking comment on the announcement.
The Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited rule in the West Bank, and the largely Gaza-based Islamist militant group Hamas condemned the Israeli decision.
Move sets Israel on collision course with Canada
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said it was a “dangerous escalation,” accusing Israel of continuing to drag the region into a “cycle of violence and instability.”
“This extremist Israeli government is trying by all means to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” he told Reuters, urging U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to intervene.
Palestinians regard the expansion of settlements as a hindrance to their aspirations to create an independent state in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.
There is a growing list of European countries demanding that Israel end the war in Gaza, while Britain, France and Canada warned Israel this month that they could impose targeted sanctions if Israel continued to broaden settlement in the West Bank.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is calling for a ‘full investigation’ and an ‘immediate explanation’ after the Israel Defence Forces fired shots at at a diplomatic delegation in Jenin that included four Canadians. The tour was assessing the humanitarian situation in the West Bank city. Senior officials at Global Affairs Canada say embassy staff are shaken up, but are receiving support from the department.
The Israeli announcement sets the Netanyahu government on a collision course with Ottawa, which together with allies in France and Britain last week issued an unprecedented warning that Israel needed to halt settlement expansion in the West Bank, as well as its proposed Gideon’s Chariots operation in Gaza, or face sanctions.
Canada’s statement threatened unspecified “concrete actions” if Israel did not change course. This announcement, the biggest settlement expansion in many years, will likely be seen as a direct challenge to Canada, France and Britain. The Prime Minister’s Office in Canada told CBC News it will be responding.
Israeli groups criticize settlement expansion
Britain’s Minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer, condemned Israel’s approval of new settlements, calling it a “deliberate obstacle to Palestinian statehood.”
“Settlements are illegal under international law, further imperil the two-state solution, and do not protect Israel,” Falconer wrote on X.
Most of the international community considers the settlements illegal. The Israeli government deems settlements legal under its own laws, while some “outposts” are illegal but often tolerated and sometimes later legalized.
B’Tselem, a leading Israeli human rights organization, accused the right-wing government of advancing “Jewish supremacy through the theft of Palestinian land and the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank.”
In a statement, B’Tselem also criticized the international community for “enabling Israel’s crimes.”
Breaking the Silence, a group representing military veterans, said settlement expansion was driven by “extremist” ideology, seizing more land at the expense of Palestinians, and warned that legitimizing outposts rewarded violent settlers.
Expansion praised as ‘historic’
The decision was praised by Yisrael Ganz, chairman of the Yesha Council, which represents Jewish settlements and has close ties with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Ganz said the move countered the Palestinian Authority’s bid to establish a state.
“This historic decision sends a clear message — we are here not only to stay but to establish the State of Israel here for all its residents and to strengthen its security,” he said.
About 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war. Israel later annexed East Jerusalem, a move not recognized by most countries, but it has not formally extended sovereignty over the West Bank.
Settlement activity in the West Bank has accelerated sharply since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, now in its 20th month.
Israel has also stepped up military operations against Palestinian militants in the West Bank, and settler attacks on Palestinian residents have increased.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that Thursday’s decision was part of “the war led by Netanyahu against the Palestinian people.” He urged the United States and European Union to respond to Israel’s announcement by taking action.
