Hamas has sounded the alarm over new illegal Israeli settlement plans in occupied East Jerusalem, warning that they form part of a “Greater Jerusalem” project aimed at erasing the city’s Palestinian identity.
In a statement issued on the Palestinian resistance group’s official Telegram channel, Haroun Nasser Al-Din, a member of Hamas’s political bureau and head of its Jerusalem Affairs Office, condemned two new tenders issued by Israeli authorities to build hundreds of new illegal settlement units northeast of the city.
He said the move reflects an “accelerated race” to impose new demographic and territorial facts on the ground, expand Israeli control, and tighten the ring of settlement and annexation around the occupied city.
Nasser Al-Din said the plans target the northeastern gateway of Jerusalem and fall under what he described as the most dangerous phase of the so-called “Greater Jerusalem” scheme — a policy he said seeks to cut off the city from its Palestinian surroundings and seize more land for “systematic Judaization”.
Calls on Arab and Muslim nations to shoulder their responsibility
He noted that the illegal settlement push comes amid a spike in Israeli raids on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and intensified restrictions on Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem. These include arrests, expulsions and home demolitions, which he said are intended to intimidate residents and force them to leave.
“The occupation will not succeed in changing Jerusalem’s identity,” he said, adding that Palestinians would continue to “stand firm and defend their land and city by all available means”.
Nasser Al-Din called on Arab and Muslim nations, both governments and people, to shoulder their “religious and historical responsibility” to protect the holy city and support the steadfastness of its Palestinian residents.
The international community, including the UN, considers the Israeli settlements illegal under international law.
The UN has repeatedly warned that continued settlement expansion threatens the viability of a two-state solution, a framework seen as key to resolving the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
In an advisory opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.
