Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said that Israel plans to build 763 new illegal settlement units in the Eli settlement south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, a move expected to triple its size in the coming years.
Smotrich said Israel intends to continue building illegal settlement farms and communities, according to Israel's Channel 14.
He said the housing units would be built and developed in the illegal Eli settlement, which falls under the Binyamin Regional Council in the occupied West Bank.
Threefold expansion
Channel 14 said implementation of the plans is expected to triple the size of the illegal settlement in the coming years and allow it to accommodate thousands of additional illegal settlers.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has repeatedly described itself as one of Israel's most pro-settlement governments.
Earlier this month, Smotrich said the government had approved the establishment of 104 new illegal settlements and 160 agricultural settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank since taking office in late 2022.
About 750,000 illegal Israeli settlers live in 141 illegal settlements and 224 settlement outposts across the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian figures.
The Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission said illegal settlers carried out 3,488 attacks against Palestinians and their property during the first half of 2026, including assaults on villages, arson attacks, shootings, land seizures and the establishment of new illegal settlement outposts.
The commission said the attacks killed 17 Palestinians.
Palestinian officials warn that continued settlement expansion and settler attacks are paving the way for Israel's formal annexation of the occupied West Bank, undermining prospects for an independent Palestinian state envisioned in relevant UN resolutions.
