Israeli occupation authorities are advancing a new round of large‑scale colonial construction across the occupied West Bank, moving forward with thousands of additional housing units in illegal colonies as part of an ongoing effort to entrench control over Palestinian land and reshape the region’s geography.
The Wall & Colonization Resistance Commission reported that Israeli authorities are promoting plans for 2,721 new colonial units in several colonies throughout the occupied West Bank.
According to the Commission, the Israeli “Higher Planning Council” of the Civil Administration is scheduled to convene on Wednesday to review and advance a new package of expansion schemes.
The proposed plans include major additions in multiple colonies, most prominently 1,006 units in the Giv’ot colony west of Bethlehem in the southern West Bank.
Israeli authorities have been working to formalize Giv’ot as an independent colony after separating it from the Alon Shvut colony in March 2025.
The package also includes 922 units in the Har Brakha colony south of Nablus in the northern West Bank, 455 units in the Mevo Dotan colony west of Jenin in the northern West Bank, and 234 units in the Kiryat Arba colony east of Hebron in the southern West Bank.
The Commission added that the session will also consider a series of regulatory and structural plans aimed at expanding the legal and planning framework of existing colonies.
These include changes to building boundaries, land‑use classifications, and construction regulations—measures that reflect Israel’s continued efforts to consolidate the administrative and legal infrastructure of its colonial project while simultaneously expanding the physical footprint of the colonies.
The new plans demonstrate Israel’s determination to impose new facts on the ground by enlarging existing colonies and establishing additional colonial centers across the occupied West Bank.
The expansion is expected to accelerate land confiscation, deepen the fragmentation of Palestinian communities, and further undermine any remaining geographic continuity necessary for a viable Palestinian state.
Data released by the Wall & Colonization Resistance Commission on March 30, marking Land Day, shows that 542 Israeli colonies and colonial outposts are now spread across the occupied West Bank.
These include 192 colonies and 350 outposts, more than 165 of which were established after October 2023, with 59 new outposts created in 2025 alone. The total population of Israeli colonizers in the occupied West Bank now exceeds 780,000.
All of Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention in addition to various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits collective punishment and acts of terror against civilian populations.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
Articles 53 and 147, prohibit the destruction of civilian property and classify pillage as a war crime.
