Al-Jazeera correspondent said that the Israeli cabinet decided to legalize 9 outposts in the West Bank.
The reporter explained that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after the meeting held on Sunday that new housing units will be approved in the coming days in West Bank settlements, while the far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich indicated that the number will reach 10,000 units.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who is described as one of the most extremist ministers, said on Twitter, "I am glad that the cabinet approved my request to approve the conversion of 9 outposts into settlements, but this is not enough and we want more."
Outposts are sites established by settlers on private Palestinian land without the approval of the Israeli government.
According to the Hebrew newspaper "Yedioth Ahronoth", there are 77 "illegal" outposts in the West Bank, and that approval was issued for 9 of them at Ben Gvir's request.
Settlement is considered illegal under international law, but the Israeli occupation believes that there is a difference between random outposts that are built without its permission and those that it approved, and about 475,000 settlers live in them, most of them extremists.
Netanyahu pledged last December to expand settlements in the West Bank after regaining power, heading a government considered the most right-wing in Israel's history.
According to "Yedioth Ahronoth," the Council also agreed to expand what it called the security operation against the Palestinians in East Jerusalem, and in the same context, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority said that the arrests of Palestinians in the city of Jerusalem will be expanded, and strict measures will be taken against them, but there will not be a major operation as requested. Ben Gvir during the meeting.
Ramallah condemns
In response to the Israeli move, the Palestinian presidency denounced the legalization of settlement outposts in the West Bank, stressing that it would "lead to more tension and escalation."
Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh considered that the Israeli decisions are "a challenge to American and Arab efforts and a provocation to the Palestinian people," stressing that "unilateral measures are rejected according to international legitimacy decisions and bilateral agreements."
On the other hand, Secretary of the Executive Committee of the PLO, Hussein Al-Sheikh, said on Twitter that "the Palestinian leadership will study ways to respond to the great escalation," adding that the authority considers "this open war against the Palestinian people that requires immediate international intervention."