Israel has allocated $337 million to support the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to reports.
The funding package, which is expected to be approved on Thursday, aims to facilitate the establishment of new settlements and strengthen existing Israeli communities across the territory.
The plan is being championed by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a leading advocate of settlement expansion. Smotrich has repeatedly pushed for increased Israeli presence in the West Bank and has promoted policies aimed at consolidating Israeli control over the area.
According to the agenda of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet meeting, ministers are also expected to discuss measures related to the formalisation and development of settlement outposts that have already been established in the West Bank.
However, it remains unclear whether the proposed financial package will receive final cabinet approval.
Approximately 700,000 Israeli settlers currently live among around 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1980, a move that has not been widely recognised by the international community. The broader West Bank, meanwhile, remains under military occupation and has not been formally annexed by Israel.
The settlement issue remains one of the most contentious aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The United Nations United Nations and most countries consider Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank to be illegal under international law.
Israel disputes that interpretation and maintains that the settlements are lawful.
