Israel Orders Seizure of 165 Dunams in West Bank, Groups Say

(MENAFN) Israel has issued four military orders to seize Palestinian land across the northern West Bank, while settlers have set up a new outpost near Hebron, Palestinian groups said Tuesday.

The orders cover roughly 165 dunams (40.7 acres) in Qalqilya, Nablus, Tubas and the northern Jordan Valley, according to the Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission. The commission said they authorize fresh seizures and widen the areas covered by earlier orders, with military purposes cited as the justification.

The commission tied the measures to plans for buffer zones around settlement outposts, wider roads serving settlements and stronger military positions. It cautioned that the effects could reach well beyond the land directly targeted, limiting Palestinian access to surrounding areas.

Further south, settlers established an outpost in the Humsa area near Dura, south of Hebron, according to the Palestinian rights group Al-Baidar. The group warned that the move would open the way to further encroachment on Palestinian land and threaten residents’ ability to stay in the area.

The commission documented attempts to set up 28 settlement outposts across the West Bank in October, nine of them in Hebron governorate. It also estimated that Israel has seized or taken control of about 64,000 dunams (15,814 acres) through 231 military orders and measures in the three years since October 2023.

Official Palestinian figures put the number of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, at around 750,000. They live in 194 settlements and 400 outposts.

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