AhlulBayt News Agency: A recent report by Israel’s Channel 12 reveals a dramatic 40% increase in settlement outposts across the occupied West Bank since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s return to power in late 2022. The number of settlements has surged from 128 to 178, accompanied by a sharp rise in settler violence and the demolition of Palestinian homes.
The report highlights that at least 50 new settlements have been declared under the current administration. These include 19 existing sites, 7 grazing farms, 14 neighborhoods within settlements, and 10 that exist only on paper. Construction in existing settlements has also reached record levels, with 41,709 settler housing units approved—more than in the six years prior to Netanyahu’s government.
This expansion comes amid calls from 14 Likud ministers and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana for the immediate annexation of the West Bank. The report warns that the scale and speed of settlement activity, along with strategic road construction and home demolitions, are designed to entrench Israeli control and undermine the two-state solution.
By the end of 2024, the number of illegal outposts had reached 214, with 66 established during the ongoing war on Gaza. Most of these are farming outposts occupying vast grazing lands—about 787 square kilometers—mainly in central and eastern West Bank.
The settler population has also grown significantly. Between 2013 and 2023, it rose by 38%, from 374,000 to 517,000, according to the Yesha Council. The report concludes that no previous Israeli administration has promoted settlement expansion as aggressively as the current one.
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