Israeli planning body advances permits for 3,500 West Bank settlement homes

Israeli government ministers announced that a planning body advanced permits for 3,500 new West Bank settlement homes near Jerusalem.

The Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration, which oversees the construction of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, has reportedly not met since June due to the war in Gaza. The council is headed by far-right Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich.

Smotrich said that 18,515 West Bank settlement homes were approved of over the past year, a record number.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently expressing his disapproval of them.