Key facts
- Israel is expected to approve 1 billion shekels ($337.8 million) for West Bank settlement expansion.
- The funding includes infrastructure such as access roads, land preparation, and water connections.
- Palestinians allege Israeli settlers obstructed firefighting efforts near the village of Taybeh.
- Settlers reportedly surrounded people and fired weapons during the firefighting attempt.
- The Israeli military temporarily halted firefighter access for security coordination.
- A UN inquiry found Israeli authorities involved in settler attacks on Palestinians.
Israel is expected to approve the allocation of 1 billion shekels ($337.8 million) to build new settlements and connect them to infrastructure in the occupied West Bank, according to the anti-settlement group Peace Now. The plan, promoted by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, aims to bypass standard planning processes for settlements already approved by the government over the past three years.
This development comes as Palestinians allege that Israeli settlers obstructed firefighting efforts near the Christian village of Taybeh in the West Bank. Local officials and firefighters reported that settlers surrounded people attempting to extinguish a fire and fired weapons. The Israeli military also temporarily halted firefighters' access for security coordination. Despite these obstacles, firefighters eventually put out the blaze, but reported continued obstruction.
Approximately 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The UN and most countries view West Bank settlements as illegal under international conventions, a view Israel disputes. Palestinians and many countries consider settlements a primary obstacle to peace. The expansion of settlements has been accompanied by a rise in Israeli settler violence against Palestinians. A recent UN inquiry found Israeli authorities were directly involved in settler attacks resulting in Palestinian deaths, injuries, and displacement, a finding Israel's mission in Geneva rejected.