JERICHO, Palestine

Illegal Israeli settlers established a new settlement outpost north of the city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported, citing Ayman Gharib, an activist with the Popular Resistance Committees in the Jordan Valley.

“Around 15 illegal settlers brought building equipment and set up a new settlement outpost about 300 meters from Al-Auja water canal,” Ghareeb said.

He emphasized that the canal is a significant source of water in the northern region of Jericho.

Ghareeb pointed out that the group of settlers had set up another settlement outpost in the same area about two weeks prior.

He said “the creation of these settlement outposts aligns with colonial plans openly driven by the far-right Israeli occupation government.”

In response to an announcement by Spain, Norway and Ireland on Wednesday recognizing Palestine as a state, the Israeli Knesset, or parliament, approved a preliminary reading of a bill that proposes the annexation of land in the West Bank to Israel and considering the area south of Hebron as part of the Negev.

Additionally, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant instructed on Wednesday “to put into effect a bill repealing the Disengagement Law in some northern West Bank areas, reopening them for Israelis for the first time since 2005,” according to the Yedioth Ahronoth daily.

In 2005, then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered the evacuation of Israeli settlements in Gaza along with four settlements in the northern West Bank as part of his plan for disengagement from the territory.

Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli human rights center B'Tselem revealed a plan by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to displace Palestinian shepherds from their lands in the occupied West Bank.

“In February and March 2024, B'Tselem documented some 20 incidents in which Israeli settlers and soldiers drove Palestinian shepherds out of pastureland in the South Hebron Hills,” the center said in a statement.

Estimates indicate that around 700,000 Israeli settlers live in roughly 300 illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

All Jewish settlements in the occupied territories are considered illegal under international law.

Tensions have been running high across the West Bank since Israel launched a deadly military offensive against the Gaza Strip after an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.

At least 517 Palestinians have since been killed and over 4,900 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered it to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza