News - Middle East: Israeli forces have destroyed 120 Palestinian-owned homes in the Jenin refugee camp in the West bank as the regime is scrambling to approve more illegal settlements in the occupied territory. 

On Monday, the Jenin municipality said dozens of homes were also severely damaged.

The Israeli military’s aggression in Jenin and its camp has entered its 35th day. At least 27 Palestinians have been killed and dozens injured.

Meanwhile, in the early hours of Monday, Israeli settlers, escorted by the regime forces, set fire to a Palestinian-owned agricultural structure in Abu Shaban village, east of Yatta, in the West Bank province of al-Khalil (Hebron).

Osama Makhamreh, an anti-settlement activist in Masafer Yatta, told Wafa news agency that armed settlers torched the property of Ali Ayesh Qaraish and scrawled racist slogans on it, under military protection.

Makhamreh added it was the latest in a series of attacks aimed at the forcible displacement of  Palestinians from Masafer Yatta.

Two days after a ceasefire took effect in Gaza, the Israeli military launched its aggression in the occupied West Bank on January 21, claiming that it was targeting resistance fighters.

On January 15, the Israeli regime, having failed to achieve any of its war objectives including the “elimination” of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas or the release of captives, was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas.

Israel to okay nearly 1,200 new Israeli settlement units

Meanwhile, the Israeli anti-settlement group, Peace Now, said the regime will discuss the approval of the construction of 1,170 settlement units in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.

According to the NGO, Israel’s Higher Planning Council (HPC) is expected to approve the units across four settlements, namely Gvaot, Itamar, Shaarei Tikva and Givat Zeev.

“Of these, 756 units are planned for Gvaot, a settlement adjacent to the Palestinian village of Nahalin, where approximately 50 families currently reside,” it said.

Noting that the council approved the deposit of 250 settler units in Gvaot in July 2024, the group said, “With the expected approval on February 26, 2025, the settlement is set to expand twentyfold.”

More than 700,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East al-Quds.

The international community views the settlements as illegal under international law and the Geneva Conventions due to their construction on occupied territories.

The UN Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in several resolutions.

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