TEL AVIV, 10 April. - (ANA) - The Israeli government has quietly approved 34 new settlements in the occupied West Bank on 1 April, as ministers accelerate the territory's de facto annexation ahead of this year's elections, according to Israeli media reports.

 

Netanyahu's far-right coalition has overseen the fastest proliferation of illegal settlements in the country's history, approving more than 100 since coming to power in 2022.

 

Last week's decision is the single-largest expansion of settlements in the country's history and is almost six times the number approved in the three decades after the 1993 Oslo Accords.

 

It is also significant because of the locations of the planned settlements, which will be situated deep inside Palestinian enclaves and in remote areas where the military has little presence.

 

The plan has not been acknowledged by Israeli officials due to its approval by the security cabinet, whose meetings are classified and not discussed in public.

 

It was approved despite opposition from Israel's army chief Eyal Zamir, who said that protecting dozens of new settlements would put further strain on an already stretched military.

 

Zamir recently warned that the army could face collapse if its growing manpower crisis is not addressed.

 

Rights monitor Yesh Din said the latest expansion is aimed at advancing the Israeli far-right's ambitions of depopulating the territory of Palestinians.

 

"While we were running to bomb shelters, it was urgent for cabinet members to establish dozens more new settlements in the West Bank, thereby advancing the Smotrich plan for ethnic cleansing of the West Bank by pushing the Palestinians into small, densely populated enclaves in Area A," it said.

 

The group was referring to the staunchly pro-settler finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who heads the far-right Religious Zionism party.

 

Peace Now, an anti-settlement Israeli NGO, said the government "has gone into a frenzy" ahead of this year's elections and was "seeking to create as many facts on the ground as possible".

 

The settlement expansion has coincided with a surge in settler violence against Palestinians, who have been forced from their homes in record numbers.

 

Almost 1,700 Palestinians were displaced by settler attacks in the first three months of 2026, surpassing the total number in all of 2025, according to UN data.

 

This was in addition to the tens of thousands of others who have been displaced by Israeli forces since 2024. -(ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/10 April 2026 - - -