A general view shows an area near the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the central part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank on November 25, 2021. (File photo by Reuters)

Tel Aviv, August 13 (RHC)-- Israeli authorities have approved plans for the construction of hundreds of new settler units in the occupied West Bank, irrespective of the international outcry against the Tel Aviv regime’s illegal settlement expansion activities and land grab policies in occupied Palestine.

Palestine’s official WAFA news agency, citing a statement released by the Applied Research Institute (ARIJ), reported on Thursday that the regime’s officials have given the green light for plans to build 381 units in the new settlement, which will be erected on Palestinian-owned lands in Deir Istiya town, located 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) southwest of Nablus.  The report added that the new settlement would cover an area of 259 dunams (259,000 square meters).

Arij noted that the new settlement will lie between the settlements of Revava and Kiryat Netafim, warning that Israeli authorities are bent on creating a settlement complex in the area.

Emboldened by former U.S. president Donald Trump’s all-out support, Israel has stepped up its illegal settlement construction activities in defiance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which pronounced settlements in the West Bank and East al-Quds “a flagrant violation under international law.”

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East al-Quds.  All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. The UN Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.

Many Palestinians believe the Israeli plans to annex one-third of the already occupied West Bank, including parts of the strategic Jordan Valley, is only a formality and that a de facto Israeli occupation of their land has been underway for many years.