UN: Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank hits record levels

In a report submitted to members of the UN Security Council, Guterres said indicators of Zionist settlement growth peaked in 2024, marking an unprecedented surge since UN monitoring efforts formally began seven years ago.

According to the report, plans were advanced, approved, or put out to tender for nearly 47,390 settlement housing units in 2024, compared with about 26,170 units in 2023. The figures represent a sharp increase over previous years, during which the annual average between 2017 and 2022 stood at around 12,800 settlement units.

Guterres strongly condemned the continued expansion of Zionist settlements across the occupied West Bank, including East Al-Quds, warning that it fuels tensions, deprives Palestinians of access to their land, and severely undermines the viability of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state.

He stressed that these developments entrench Israel’s unlawful occupation, violate international law, and the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination. The UN secretary-general reiterated his call for the immediate and complete cessation of all settlement activity.

The report noted that more than 700,000 Zionist settlers currently live in settlements across the West Bank that the United Nations considers illegal under international law, among a Palestinian population of roughly three million. This figure does not include East Jerusalem, which Israel occupied and later annexed.

Guterres also expressed deep concern over what he described as a troubling rise in settler violence, including attacks carried out at times in the presence of, or with support from, Israeli security forces. He warned of escalating violence and instability in the West Bank, particularly as a result of Israeli military operations that have killed numerous Palestinians, including women and children, and led to widespread displacement and the destruction of homes and infrastructure.

The report comes as Israeli occupation forces have significantly intensified their operations across the West Bank since the start of the genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023. Since then, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been martyred by Zionist regime’s troops or settlers, according to Palestinian figures.