Israel says it will push forward plans to build over 7,000 settler housing units, despite the government announcing a freeze this week, following an international outcry over illegal settlement expansions, Israeli media reported.
According to the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz, Israel’s Civil Administration’s Higher Planning Council approved on Wednesday a plan to build 3,612 housing units, 950 of which are expected to be approved.
Plans for a further 3,411 units were given the green light on Thursday, meaning the total exceeds all those approved in 2022 and 2021.
The announcement seemingly contradicts Israel’s previous statement on Monday, saying that it would temporarily halt settlement building beyond the nine outposts it approved earlier this month. Those approvals led to an outcry from the EU and US.
Despite this, Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – a prominent settler activist – pledged to continue with illegal settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
Some 700,000 Israeli settlers live illegally in the West Bank and Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem.
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