Israel expands Eli settlement, further fragmenting Palestinian territory in occupied West Bank

A view of the Israeli settlement of Eli in the occupied West Bank, Oct. 30, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 12 August 2025
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Israel expands Eli settlement, further fragmenting Palestinian territory in occupied West Bank

  • Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission says aim of the expansion is to separate the central West Bank from its northern region
  • The settlement, located north of Ramallah on Highway 60, is built on land that belonged to Palestinians from the villages of Al-Sawiya, Al-Lubban and Qaryut

LONDON: Israeli authorities have approved plans to transform several large illegal outposts around the Eli settlement in the occupied West Bank into neighborhoods that expand the colony, the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission said Tuesday.

The settlement, located north of Ramallah on Highway 60, was built on lands that belonged to Palestinians from the villages of Al-Sawiya, Al-Lubban and Qaryut.

Muayyad Shaaban, the head of the commission, said the aim of the expansion was to separate the central West Bank from its northern region by creating “a colonial bloc” between the cities of Ramallah and Nablus.

Israel intends to build 50 housing units in a 0.86 hectare area inside Eli, plus 650 housing units in large illegal outposts east of Eli as part of two expansion plans covering a total area of 63.8 hectares.

In July, Israeli authorities reviewed 39 settlement plans, 34 in the West Bank and five in Jerusalem. They approved 22, one of them in Jerusalem, containing a total of 4,492 housing units.

Shaaban said Israel continues “to impose facts on the ground, on Palestinian soil, which will fragment the Palestinian territory and impose a system of isolated enclaves to eliminate the possibility of a future Palestinian state.”

He added that such serious violations by Israel not only infringe on the rights of the Palestinian people but also contravene international law and resolutions, the Wafa News Agency reported.


Israeli military says its forces shot dead Palestinian rock-thrower in West Bank

Updated 21 min 12 sec ago
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Israeli military says its forces shot dead Palestinian rock-thrower in West Bank

  • Palestinian Red Crescent said one person had been killed and one wounded in the incident
  • Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians have risen sharply, while military has tightened movement restrictions and carried out sweeping raids in several citie

RAMALLAH: Israeli soldiers shot at three Palestinians who were throwing rocks at cars in the occupied West Bank on Sunday and killed one of them, the Israeli military said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said one person had been killed and one wounded in the incident. There was no immediate comment from Palestinian officials. The Israeli military said that apart from the fatality, one other person was “neutralized” and one arrested.
A day earlier, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian teenager who was driving a car toward them as well as a bystander at a checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron.
The military initially said two “terrorists” were killed after soldiers opened fire at a car accelerating toward them, before later clarifying that only one was involved.
An Israeli security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a 17-year-old was driving the car and that a 55-year-old bystander was the second person killed.
Palestinian state news agency WAFA reported that 55-year-old Ziad Naim Abu Dawood, a municipal street cleaner, was killed while working. It said another Palestinian was killed but did not report the circumstances that led the soldiers to open fire.
The Palestinian health ministry identified the teen as 17-year-old Ahmed Khalil Al-Rajabi.
The military did not report any injuries to the soldiers.
Violence has surged this year in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians have risen sharply, while the military has tightened movement restrictions and carried out sweeping raids in several cities.
Since January, 51 Palestinian minors, aged under 18, have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Palestinians have also carried out attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians, some of them deadly.