The Israeli Peace Now movement said that the Supreme Planning Council will discuss, on Wednesday, a plan to build 2,545 new settlement units in the Ma'ale Adumim and Beitar Illit settlements near occupied Jerusalem.

The rights movement said in a statement published on its website: "The Supreme Planning Council will discuss on Wednesday the construction of 2,545 new housing units in the settlements of Ma'ale Adumim and Beitar Illit."

On Saturday, the Israeli security cabinet approved the construction of a settlement road around occupied East Jerusalem.

The approved road will connect Palestinian towns but isolate them from the rest of the West Bank, separating Palestinian traffic from the main roads connecting Jerusalem to the Ma'ale Adumim settlement, restricting the use of these roads to Israelis.

Peace Now stated in its statement that the Higher Planning Council, which approves settlement plans, holds weekly meetings to advance plans for housing units in the settlements.

She added, warning: "This shift toward approving plans on a weekly basis not only legitimizes construction in the occupied territories, but also strengthens it."

She noted that "since the beginning of 2025, and including the plans expected to be approved next week, the council has advanced the construction of 14,392 housing units" in the settlements.

In June 2023, the Israeli government made a fundamental change to settlement planning procedures, eliminating the need for the Minister of Defense's approval at every stage of advancing construction plans in settlements, according to Peace Now.

The movement added: "Before this amendment, any progress in settlement construction plans required prior approval from the Minister of Defense, which led to the Supreme Planning Council meeting being scheduled approximately four times a year, with each session seeing the approval of thousands of units at once."

She continued: "In recent weeks, we have witnessed a change in the form of the council meeting approximately every two weeks, with several hundred housing units being approved in each session."

She stressed that "in this manner, the government seeks to normalize planning in the settlements and reduce the amount of public and international attention and criticism directed at them."

According to Palestinian reports, "the number of settlers in the West Bank reached approximately 770,000 by the end of 2024, distributed across 180 settlements and 256 outposts, including 138 outposts classified as pastoral and agricultural."

On July 20, 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled that "the continued presence of the State of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory is illegal," stressing that Palestinians have "the right to self-determination" and that "Israeli settlements in the occupied territories must be evacuated."

Since the beginning of the war of extermination on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army and settlers have escalated their attacks in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, resulting in the deaths of more than 940 Palestinians, the injury of nearly 7,000, and the arrest of 15,700, according to official Palestinian data.

Palestinian authorities warn that the widespread and destructive Israeli aggression comes "as part of a plan by Benjamin Netanyahu's government to annex the West Bank and declare sovereignty over it, which could represent an official declaration of the death of the two-state solution."

With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving more than 164,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing.