G7 slams Israel's legalisation of occupied West Bank outposts: statement

G7 foreign ministers have condemned the move by Israel to legalise five outposts in the occupied West Bank, and slammed its decision to expand existing settlements and establish new ones.

Illegal settlement expansion has increased sharply since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in late 2022 at the helm of a hardline pro-settler coalition.

"We, the G7 Foreign Ministers... join the UN and the European Union in condemning the announcement by Israeli Finance Minister (Bezalel) Smotrich that five outposts are to be legalised in the West Bank," read a statement on Thursday that also rejected Israel's decision to declare over 1,270 km² (3,100 acres) as "state lands".

It called the latter "the largest such declaration of state land since the Oslo Accords."

The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven rich nations also criticised Israel's decision "to expand existing settlements in the occupied West Bank by 5,295 new housing units and to establish three new settlements."

It called Israel's illegal settlement programme "inconsistent with international law, and counterproductive to the cause of peace."

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and established settlements that are deemed illegal under international law.

Israel distinguishes between wildcat outposts, built without the government's permission, and state-approved settlements.

Not counting the occupied east Jerusalem, more than 490,000 settlers live in the West Bank alongside three million Palestinians.