Agencies West Bank

Israel's government has approved 22 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, its finance minister said on Thursday, a move that could deepen divisions with some allies who have threatened sanctions over such moves.

Bezalal Smotrich, an ultra-nationalist advocating for Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, wrote on X that the settlements would be in the northern West Bank, without specifying where.

Israeli media cited the Defence Ministry as saying that among the new settlements, existing "outposts" would be legalised and new settlements would also be built. A spokesperson for Defence Minister Israel Katz did not respond to a text message seeking comment on the announcement.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited rule in the West Bank, and the largely Gaza-based Islamist militant group Hamas condemned the Israeli decision. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said it was a "dangerous escalation", accusing Israel of continuing to drag the region into a "cycle of violence and instability".

"This extremist Israeli government is trying by all means to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state," he told Reuters, urging U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to intervene. Palestinians regard the expansion of settlements as a hindrance to their aspirations to create an independent state in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.