UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk has warned that the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories constitutes a “war crime” and risks eliminating “any practical possibility” of a “viable Palestinian state.”

Turk stated that the expansion of Israeli settlements constitutes population displacement by Israel, which “amounts to a war crime” under international law.

Volcker said - in a statement accompanying the 16-page report - “Settler violence and settlement-related violations have reached shocking new levels, and threaten to eliminate any practical possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state.”

The report, which was based on monitoring carried out by the United Nations itself in addition to other sources, documented the construction of 24,300 new Israeli housing units in the occupied West Bank within one year until the end of October 2023, saying that it is the highest recorded increase ever since the start of monitoring. 2017.

He also stated that there has been a significant increase in the intensity, intensity and frequency of violence by Israeli settlers and the Israeli government against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, especially since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip on the 7th of last October.

Yesterday, Thursday, the newspaper "Israel Today" reported that plans had been approved to build 18,515 housing units in the occupied West Bank settlements during the current year, noting that this is the largest number of housing units to be approved in one year.

The newspaper pointed out that the Supreme Planning Council approved last Wednesday the construction of 3,500 additional housing units in the “Maale Adumim,” “Efrat,” and “Kedar” settlements.

It quoted Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as saying that settlement will continue to expand, and that settlement in the West Bank is “Israel’s security belt,” as he put it.