Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Friday that his government has approved the establishment of 104 illegal settlements and around 160 settlement farms in the occupied West Bank since it was formed in November 2022, Israel’s Channel 7 reported.
Speaking during a meeting with leaders of the ruling Likud party in Jerusalem, Katz said the government had taken “a series of important decisions regarding settlement expansion in Judea and Samaria,” using Israel’s term for the West Bank.
“We are not only strengthening security, but also strengthening settlement,” Katz said.
“The government approved the establishment of 104 new settlements in Judea and Samaria, along with nearly 160 new farms,” he added.
Katz described the move as “an unprecedented step that reflects the commitment to strengthening Israel’s control over the area.”
In recent weeks, the West Bank has seen a rise in occupiers establishing outposts in different areas.
Settlement outposts, which occupiers establish without official Israeli government authorization, often become the nucleus of settlements that are later legalized or connected to the infrastructure of existing settlements, according to Palestinian and Israeli groups monitoring settlement activity.
According to Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now, there are currently 141 settlements and 360 settlement outposts in the West Bank, in addition to 15 settlements in East Jerusalem.
READ: Smotrich highlights expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank
UN Security Council Resolution 2334, issued in 2016, states that Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, have no legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation of international law.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice said in an advisory opinion that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end as soon as possible.
Alongside the establishment of settlement outposts, the occupied West Bank has seen escalating occupier attacks on Palestinians and their property, amid accusations by Palestinians and Israeli and international rights groups that the Israeli army protects settlers and sometimes takes part in the attacks.
According to the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, occupiers carried out 3,488 attacks against Palestinians and their property during the first half of 2026, including attacks on people, property and land, the establishment of settlement outposts and preventing farmers from accessing their land.
Palestinians warn that Israeli policies in the occupied West Bank, including home demolitions and settlement expansion, are paving the way for formal annexation, undermining the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state under relevant UN resolutions.
READ: 2 years after ICJ ruling, UN rights office says settler violence, annexation in West Bank ‘getting worse’
