By Tal Shalev and Oren Liebermann, CNN
People look on towards Israeli settler outposts near the occupied West Bank village of Turmos Ayya. Photo: Hazem Bader / AFP
In another major expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli Cabinet has approved the legalisation and establishment of numerous settler outposts, according to an Israeli source familiar with the matter.
The Thursday (local time) decision authorises 19 outposts across the West Bank, including two that were evacuated in the 2005 disengagement plan.
According to Palestinian official news agency WAFA, Palestinian presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh reacted: "All Israeli settlement activity is illegal. and constitutes a violation of international law and international legitimacy resolutions."
In addition to being illegal under international law, outposts are also illegal under Israeli law. Settlers establish outposts with the goal of receiving authorisation for the illegal building in the future.
Many of the newly authorised settlements are deep within the West Bank.
Some of the outposts have existed for more than 20 years and are home to dozens of families. Others are in locations in the West Bank that settlers view as strategic positions to expand and establish new settlements in the future.
Moayyad Shaaban, the head of the Palestinian Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission, called the decision a "dangerous escalation that exposes the true intentions of the occupation government to entrench a system of annexation, apartheid and full Judaisation of Palestinian land".
The new approval, which came at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday evening, is part of a broader push by Israel's right wing, including far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, to expand settlements, and bury the possibility of a Palestinian state by preventing a territorial connection between Palestinian towns and communities.
The far-right Nahala movement, which advocates for the expansion of settlements in the West Bank, celebrated the decision, calling it an "impressive achievement" that would soon lead to Israeli settlements in Gaza.
In May, Israel announced it would establish 22 new settlements in what settlement watchdog organisation Peace Now said was the largest expansion of settlements in more than 30 years.
On Wednesday, Israel approved nearly 800 housing units in three different settlements in the West Bank. Peace Now said it was a pattern that "aims to normalise planning in settleme, and reduce public and international attention and criticism."
Smotrich said the new housing units were "part of a clear strategic process of strengthening the settlements, and ensuring continuity of life, security and growth".
Palestinian National Council Speaker Rouhi Fattouh said the decision to approve the new settlements amounted to a "double violation of international law", citing breaches of UN resolutions and an International Court of Justice opinion that settlement activity was illegal.
Fattouh added that expanding the settlements entrenched a policy of "creeping annexation".
Meanwhile, in Gaza, Israel said it had carried out an airstrike targeting a senior Hamas commander it accused of being "one of the architects" of the 7 October attacks. The Israeli military said the strike killed Raad Saad, the head of weapons for Hamas's military wing and one of the last remaining senior militants in Gaza.
At least four people were killed and 29 others were injured in the strikes, according to the director of Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital.
An Israeli military official claimed the attack did not violate the US-brokered ceasefire agreement, because Israel was "permitted to strike targets actively engaged in terrorism". It's unclear if the US was notified in advance of the strike or provided authorisation.
In a joint statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the strike was ordered in response to the detonation of a Hamas explosive device earlier on Saturday that wounded Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas neither confirmed nor denied Saad's death, but accused Israel of attempting to derail the US-brokered ceasefire.
Hamas said the strike on a civilian area was a "criminal violation" of the ceasefire agreement signed under US President Donald Trump's plan.
- CNN
