How Israeli settlements are taking over the West Bank as Gaza war rages
Al Jazeera
Ahead of key ICJ ruling on settlements, here’s a look at how much West Bank land Israel has grabbed since October 7.
As Israel carries out a devastating war on Gaza, settlers are exploiting the lack of global attention on the occupied West Bank to expel Palestinians from their land there.
The International Court of Justice, the world’s highest court, will rule on Friday on whether Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory is illegal – a move that could outrage Israeli settlers and the broader settlement movement.
Settlers have been particularly emboldened by far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, both of whom have pushed to expand settlements in the West Bank – which violate international law – since entering government in 2022.
The Hamas-led attacks against Israeli communities and military outposts in southern Israel on October 7, in which 1,139 people were killed and more than 250 people were taken as captives back to Gaza, offered a conducive political environment to steal large swaths of Palestinian land with little international pushback or outcry, experts told Al Jazeera.
According to Peace Now, a nonprofit organisation that monitors land confiscation in the West Bank, Israel has seized 23.7sq km (9.15sq miles) of Palestinian land this year while Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, in which at least 38,848 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and 89,459 wounded, goes on.
