Tel Aviv, September 1 (RHC)-- Israel has approved the construction of 285 new settler units in the occupied West Bank in defiance of international calls to end the illegal project in the Palestinian territories.

The Tel Aviv regime approved the building of housing units in the illegal settlement of Elkana in Beit Aryeh, and others in Givat Ze'ev.  Israel’s Haarez daily reports that the regime also retroactively legalized some 178 housing units already built in the illegal Beit Aryeh settlement.

Over half a million Israelis live in more than 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank.  Israel continues to expand illegal settlement units in the occupied West bank despite international calls for the unauthorized activity to be halted.

All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law but Tel Aviv continues to defy calls to stop the settlement expansions in the occupied Palestinian territories.