ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday unveiled plans to create 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, describing them as “reinforcing the eastern axis of the State of Israel.”

In a post on X, Smotrich cited the 58th anniversary of the occupation of the West Bank, which he calls “Judea and Samaria,” in 1967. He said that, “We have made a historic decision for the development of settlements: 22 new communities in Judea and Samaria, renewing settlement in the north of Samaria, and reinforcing the eastern axis of the State of Israel.”

Smotrich also highlighted the next step for settlements as receiving sovereignty and being incorporated into the country, saying that the settlements are “the protective wall of the State of Israel… The next step—sovereignty!”

Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law and have long been the source of international discontent relating to Israel.

Following the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, the proliferation of Israeli settlements in the West Bank has increased dramatically, with a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report noting that since 2023, the Israeli government has approved over 20,000 new housing units in illegal West Bank settlements.

Around 700,000 Israeli settlers live across 160 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, Palestinians in the West Bank often face eviction from their homes, with the same HRW report noting that over 6,200 Palestinians have been displaced in the West Bank since October 7, 2023, either as a result of Israeli demolitions of their homes or settler violence.

The repeated development of settlements in occupied territory has long drawn severe criticism from the international community.

“Israel’s settlement policy, its acts of annexation, and related discriminatory legislation and measures are in breach of international law, as the International Court of Justice has confirmed, and violate Palestinians’ right to self-determination,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk previously said regarding settlements, adding that “The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime.”