The Israeli security cabinet, chaired by Benjamin Netanyahu, is scheduled to convene Thursday to discuss a plan to allocate approximately 1 billion shekels ($338 million) to expand existing settlements and integrate them into state infrastructure.
The massive funding initiative comes as international human rights organizations accuse the Israeli occupation government of accelerating the forcible displacement of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank.
According to the Israeli watchdog Peace Now, the security cabinet’s upcoming session will finalize the funding required to develop several illegal settlement outposts that had previously received government approvals over the past years.
The group reported that the proposed funding will be funneled into constructing roads, water and sewage grids, preparing land, and erecting temporary residential complexes in the targeted settlements, facilitating their direct connection to Israeli state infrastructure and accelerating their growth.
The expansion plan is spearheaded by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, one of the most prominent champions of colonial expansion in the West Bank.
A spokesperson for Smotrich stated that the anticipated decision does not pertain to establishing new settlements but rather supporting existing outposts, asserting that the upcoming vote will “reinforce the Israeli settlement presence in the West Bank.”
The government’s move comes days after Smotrich announced the approval of more than 2,000 new units across three settlements in the West Bank.
The move is part of an uninterrupted colonial expansion campaign witnessed in the region since the formation of Netanyahu’s cabinet in late 2022.
The announcement of the funding plan coincided with a new Amnesty International report accusing Israel of executing a systematic policy designed to forcibly displace Palestinians from Area C of the West Bank and expand settlement control over the territory.
The rights group emphasized that the ongoing events are not isolated acts of individual settler violence, but rather constitute a state-sponsored policy backed by Israeli institutions to serve the objectives of land annexation and colonial expansion.
The report documented the conditions of several Palestinian Bedouin and pastoralist communities, including the southern Hebron village of Khirbet Zanuta.
Amnesty noted that the village’s residents endured years of systematic attacks and state pressure, forcing them to flee, while subsequent attempts to return to their lands failed despite Israeli court rulings in their favor.
According to the report, 117 Palestinian communities suffered total or partial displacement between 2023 and 2026, resulting in the forcible expulsion of approximately 5,910 Palestinians from their homes, particularly in Area C, which remains under full Israeli military control and constitutes over 60% of the West Bank.
Amnesty International directly linked the surge in settler violence to the broader settlement expansion campaigns in the West Bank over recent years.
The organization noted that the Israeli government has expanded its support programs for settlements and outposts, facilitating settlers’ access to funding, equipment, and the necessary infrastructure to entrench their presence on the land.
This expansion has fundamentally altered the demographics of the region. According to Reuters, approximately 700,000 Israeli settlers currently reside illegally alongside nearly 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in blatant violation of international law.
This structural expansion has triggered a wave of global backlash. On Tuesday, six Western nations announced a sanctions package targeting settlers and settlement organizations over acts of violence perpetrated against Palestinians in the West Bank. New Zealand separately enacted similar measures, demanding that “extremist settlers” be held accountable.
The British sanctions targeted several organizations linked to the funding and support of settlement outposts in the West Bank, including the Farmers’ Association and the Artzenu organization, alongside their financial arms.
The sanctions also targeted individuals and companies accused of participating in construction and demolition operations targeting Palestinian properties.
France also slapped sanctions on several settler leaders and barred the Israeli Finance Minister from entering its territory after he actively promoted the annexation of the West Bank as well as his mistreatment of detained activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla.
Last week, Australia and New Zealand imposed similar sanctions on violent, extremist settlers. Norway banned “20 violent settlers” from entering its territory, while Canada implemented its fifth round of sanctions targeting “facilitators of extremist settler violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.”
These coordinated diplomatic moves coincide with a UN commission of inquiry which recently concluded that settler violence in the West Bank cannot be treated as isolated incidents. Rather, the commission found, it is part of a broader, state-led policy aimed at consolidating Israeli control over Palestinian land.
