File photo shows a general view of the Israeli settler enclave of Nof Zion in the occupied East al-Quds. (Photo by Reuters)

Tel Aviv, March 1 (RHC)-- Israel plans to seize hundreds of acres of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank to expand a settlement. It is viewed as one of the regime’s biggest land-grab schemes.  The regime’s authorities on Thursday appropriated several tracts of land near the settlement.  The territory would now be designated as part of the Maale Adumim settlement, east of al-Quds.

The tracts amount to 2,640 dunams, or 652 acres. The West Bank, including East al-Quds, is among the territories Israel captured in 1967.

Much of the international community deems the settlements illegal. On February 24, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington deemed the West Bank settlements inconsistent with international law.

The Palestinian Authority has called on all countries to put individuals tied to settler organizations or companies investing in settlement construction across the occupied Palestinian territories on their terror lists.

The United Nations has already published a list of companies with business ties to Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.  The Palestinians have called for serious international intervention to force the regime to stop the settlement expansion.

The UN is concerned about the surging violence perpetuated by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, terming it “terrorism” against the Palestinians.  Acts of violence by Israeli settlers against the Palestinians and their property are a daily occurrence throughout the West Bank.

The regime has escalated its acts of aggression against the Palestinians across the West Bank since early October 2023, when it began the campaign of death and destruction in the besieged Gaza Strip.

In its latest report, the UN said around 400 Palestinians, including at least 100 children, have been killed in the West Bank since.