The European Union (EU) has condemned Thursday the advancing of more than 7,000 housing units in illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank.
"This exceeds the total number advanced during all of 2022, which was a record year in terms of illegal settlement expansion," said the EU spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy, Nabila Massrali, in a statement on Friday.
The EU reiterated its position that settlements are illegal under international law.
The 27-member European bloc renewed its call on Israel to halt settlement construction and to reverse these latest decisions as a matter of urgency.
Israel's Civil Administration's Higher Planning Council advanced on Wednesday plans to build 3,612 housing units in the settlements, of which 950 are expected to receive final approval, Haaretz reported.
The planning council was expected to advance plans for another 3,411 units on Thursday, bringing the total advanced in the two meetings above the totals approved in 2022 and 2021 – 4,427 and 3,645 respectively.
Earlier on Monday, the UN Security Council adopted a presidential statement expressing its deep concern and dismay over Israel’s recent announcement of further construction and expansion of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as well as the “legalization” of settlement outposts.
The statement, issued by all 15 members of the council, including the United States, reiterates the international community's decision that "continuing Israeli settlement activities are dangerously imperiling the viability of the two-state solution based on the 1967 lines."
