The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has sharply criticised new Israeli measures in the occupied West Bank, calling them “a new blow against international law” that risk entrenching control and fueling further violence.
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of UNRWA, said the steps approved by Israel’s Security Cabinet on Sunday would pave the way for “accelerated settlement expansion” and further erode Palestinian prospects.
“The measures amount to a recipe for increased control, hopelessness and violence,” Lazzarini wrote on X late on Tuesday, warning that the decisions set dangerous precedents with potential global consequences.
Attempts to strengthen Israeli control
According to Israeli media reports, the cabinet approved a series of changes to the legal and civil framework governing the occupied West Bank.
These include repealing a law that barred the sale of land in the territory to private Israeli individuals, unsealing land ownership records, and transferring authority over building permits in a settlement bloc near Hebron from a Palestinian municipality to Israel’s civil administration.
The moves are widely seen as strengthening Israeli control over the territory, which Palestinians seek as part of a future independent state.
Settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank is considered illegal under international law.
The latest measures are likely to heighten tensions in a region already gripped by months of escalating violence.
