Name: Israeli settlements expand by record amount, UN says | REUTERS
Uploaded: 2026-01-11T17:00:07.000Z
Duration: 2 min 16 s
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Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories have expanded by a record amount, the UN Human Rights Office said on Friday.

The scale of the expansion risks eliminating any practical possibility of a Palestinian state, according to UN rights officials who compiled a report.

Head of the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian Territory Ajith Sungai, told Reuters that the policies of the Israeli government appeared to target expanding long term Israeli control over the west bank, including East Jerusalem.

We remind Israel that the transfer of population of an occupying power into occupied territory, or the forcible transfer of the population within or from occupied territory, or the annexation of territory by use of force are all strictly prohibited.

Officials and others involved in such conduct risk individual criminal liability.

The report documented 24,300 new Israeli housing units in the occupied west bank during a one year period to October 2023, which it said was the highest since monitoring began in 2017.

It added that there had been a dramatic increase in intensity, severity and regularity of both Israeli settler and state violence against Palestinians in the occupied west bank, particularly since the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7.

Israel, which captured the West bank in the 1967 Middle east war, claims a biblical birthright to the land where settlements are expanding.

Its military says it is conducting counterterrorism operations in the west bank and is targeting suspected militants.

Israel's diplomatic mission in Geneva said that the report should have included the deaths of 36 Israelis in 2023.

It said in a statement that victims of Palestinian terrorism are ignored by the Office of the High Commissioner.

Time and time again, the five month old Gaza war has put a renewed focus on a two state solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict, as foreseen by the Oslo accords from the early 1990s.

But there has been little progress on achieving Palestinian statehood since then, with the expansion of settlements being one of the obstacles.

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Israeli settlements expand by record amount, UN says | REUTERS

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