Jerusalem: Israel’s government has advanced plans for more than 3,100 new homes in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
A planning committee gave its final approval for 1,800 housing units and preliminary approval for 1,344 others.
The announcement follows a public rebuke of Israeli policy from US President Joe Biden’s administration.
It warned that it “strongly opposed the expansion of settlements” because it damaged prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
More than 600,000 Jews live in 145 settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. Most of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
The Palestinians have called on the world to confront Israel over the “aggression” constituted by settlement construction on land they claim for a future independent state.