Israel approves new settlement on Unesco site near Bethlehem

Israel has approved a new settlement on a Unesco World Heritage Site near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, its far-right finance minister said on Wednesday.

Bezalel Smotrich, who also heads civil affairs at the defence ministry, said his office had "completed its work and published a plan for the new Nahal Heletz settlement in Gush Etzion", a bloc of settlements south of Jerusalem. 

All of Israel's settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law.

"No anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist decision will stop the development of settlements," Smotrich, who lives in a settlement, posted on X.