RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – The Israeli government on Wednesday approved construction of 450 new Jewish-only illegal settlement units in the occupied West Bank.

According to Israel’s Channel 7, the government’s planning and building committee approved construction of the new housing units in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc south of Jerusalem.

The new units will be part of Gush Etzion block, while the Regional Council in Gush Etzion Block is working on getting approval for the construction of an additional 17.000 new units.

170 units will be built in Daniel block, built on Palestinian lands in the al-Khader town, south of Bethlehem.

84 units were approved in Kfar Eldad colony, built on Palestinian lands in at-Ta’amra village, east of Bethlehem, and 38 in Kfar Etzion, south of Bethlehem, in addition to 150 units, which were previously approved.

Roughly 600,000 Israeli settlers currently live on more than 100 Jewish-only settlements built in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which were illegally occupied by Israel in 1967.

The Palestinians, for their part, want these areas — along with the Gaza Strip — for a future state of Palestine.

International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as “occupied territories” and considers all settlement-building activity on the land as illegal.

[Archive photo: Illegal construction by Israel at Jewish settlement of Shilo, West Bank on 22 February 2017. Photographer: Issam Rimawi/AA]