The growth of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank has reached its highest point since at least 2017, as reported by the UN chief in a document reviewed by AFP on Friday.
In 2025, “plans for nearly 47,390 housing units were advanced, approved, or tendered, in contrast to approximately 26,170 in 2024,” the report indicated. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced the “relentless” expansion, asserting that it “continues to fuel tensions, obstruct Palestinian access to their land, and jeopardize the feasibility of a fully independent, democratic, contiguous, and sovereign Palestinian State.”
“These statistics signify a significant rise compared to prior years,” he remarked, highlighting that an average of 12,815 housing units were added each year from 2017 to 2022.
Excluding East Jerusalem, which was occupied and annexed by Israel in 1967, around 500,000 Israeli settlers reside in the West Bank, alongside approximately three million Palestinian inhabitants.
“These developments are further entrenching the unlawful Israeli occupation, violating international law, and undermining the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination,” Guterres stated.
Guterres also criticized the “ongoing escalation of violence and tensions in the occupied West Bank,” emphasizing operations conducted by the Israeli Defense Forces in the northern West Bank that have resulted in a “high number” of casualties, displaced residents, and the destruction of homes and other infrastructure.
Violence in the West Bank has surged since Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023, which ignited the Gaza war.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,022 Palestinians in the West Bank – including both militants and civilians – since the onset of the conflict, according to an AFP tally based on figures from the Palestinian health ministry.
At least 44 Israelis have lost their lives in the West Bank due to Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations during the same timeframe, according to Israeli statistics.
