Said Amouri, Lina Altawell
24 September 2026•Update: 24 September 2026
Israeli authorities approved the construction of 567 new illegal settlement units Thursday in the Asael and Beit Hagai settlements in the Hebron governorate in the southern occupied West Bank, according to media reports.
Channel 7 said the Higher Planning Council of the Israeli Civil Administration approved a plan to build 342 settlement units in Asael and 225 units in Beit Hagai.
The plan for Asael, established in 2001 and home to around 100 Israeli families, was approved without further details, said the channel.
In Beit Hagai, established in 1983, the construction of 225 new units would double the size of the settlement in the coming years, it added.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich led the move, describing the advancement of the plans in the two settlements as “very significant news for settlement.”
“We are doubling Beit Hagai, not in words but in deeds,” he said.
Eliram Azoulay, head of the Hebron Hills Regional Council, also described the approval as “historic news for settlement,” saying they would work to accelerate construction and expand settlements.
Around 750,000 Israeli occupiers live in 156 illegal settlements and 360 settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.
The UN considers Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories illegal under international law and has repeatedly warned that settlement activity undermines the possibility of implementing the two-state solution.
The occupied West Bank has witnessed an escalation in Israeli raids and arrests since October 2023, alongside increasing occupier attacks, movement restrictions and closures of entrances to Palestinian towns and villages.