Illegal Israeli settlers establish new settlement outpost in occupied West Bank

Illegal Israeli settlers on Sunday established a new settlement outpost in the northern West Bank, a rights group said.

The Bedouin rights group Al-Baidar said illegal settlers raided the village of Jinsafut, east of Qalqilya, set up a new outpost, and raised the Israeli flag over it.

It said the targeted area covers about 100 dunams (24.7 acres) of land planted with centuries-old olive trees, calling the move a “dangerous step” aimed at imposing a new reality by force.

The rights group appealed to the international community and human rights institutions to intervene immediately to halt settler violence against Palestinians.

In August alone, illegal settlers carried out 431 attacks against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank, according to data from the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CWRC). The attacks included armed assaults on villages, land seizures, extrajudicial killings, vandalism, bulldozing, and uprooting trees.

The commission estimates that around 770,000 illegal settlers live in West Bank settlements, spread across 180 settlements and 256 outposts, including 136 agricultural-grazing outposts.

The United Nations considers Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories illegal under international law and a major obstacle to a two-state solution, and has for decades called for their halt without success.

Since October 2023, at least 1,046 Palestinians have been killed and more than 10,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.