On Friday, the left-wing Israeli "Peace Now" movement revealed an unprecedented boom in settlement activity in the West Bank since the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip on October 7.

Peace Now, which rejects settlement, said in a report: “After three months of war on Gaza, we are witnessing an unprecedented surge in settlement activities, including the construction of settlement outposts, roads, fences and roadblocks.”

It added: "Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, settlers have established or re-established at least 10 settlement outposts, some of which were evacuated in the past and then rebuilt."

It continued: "So far, at least 18 new roads built by settlers have been documented, and we estimate that the actual number is higher."

It explained that "paving these roads allows the seizure of large-scale new areas along the road's path, which constitutes an area that is inaccessible to the Palestinians due to the presence of settlers and their ease of access to the area."

It added that "the settlers continue to control Area C in the West Bank, which further marginalizes the Palestinian presence," as Area C constitutes 60 percent of the West Bank area.

It also stated that "the establishment of settlement outposts and the paving of roads contributed to the spread of the phenomenon of roadblocks that prevent Palestinians from reaching the main roads in the West Bank, while barriers are erected along these roads to impede the movement of Palestinians and their presence in various buffer zones."

In this context, Peace Now said, “During the current war in Gaza, we witnessed an increase in settlers’ participation in security and civil decisions related to the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank, including preventing the opening of roads for the use of Palestinian vehicles and closing the entrances to Palestinian villages.”

It pointed out that "the settlers exploited the three months of the war to impose facts on the ground and effectively control large areas in Area C."

It added: "The settlers decide where to build roads and settlement outposts on an ongoing basis, ignoring the legal status of the land. They continue to build settlement outposts on private Palestinian land, define open areas, and restrict the movement of Palestinians in the West Bank."

It continued: “The permissive military and political environment allows reckless construction and land seizures almost unchecked, with minimal adherence to the law. The result is not only physical harm to the Palestinians and their lands, but also a major political shift in the West Bank. The unchecked settlers’ rampage must be stopped immediately.”

Peace Now estimates that more than 700,000 settlers reside in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Since the formation of the current government a year ago headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, a coalition that includes far-right parties, settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories have escalated.

The United Nations considers Israeli settlement illegal, and calls in vain for its cessation, warning that it undermines the chances of addressing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in accordance with the principle of a two-state solution (Palestinian next to Israeli).