ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday expressed concern over the continued expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine, reaffirming Islamabad’s support for an independent Palestinian state.

Dar, who is also Pakistan’s foreign minister, was speaking to the press during a joint news conference with Singapore’s visiting Foreign Minister Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan in Islamabad.

Pakistan has raised concern multiple times over Israel’s move to deny Palestinians building permits while illegally expanding Jewish settlements in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem in June 1967 and has since maintained a military-run regime over security and civilian matters related to Palestinian lives.

“On Palestine, I expressed concern over the continued expansion of illegal settlements and efforts to alter the status of the West Bank and Al-Quds Al-Sharif,” Dar said, referring to the Arabic name for Jerusalem.

He stressed the need for unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance for the people of Gaza, where Israel has carried out deadly military operations since Oct. 7, 2023, and killed over 70,000 Palestinians.

“I reiterated firm support for an independent, sovereign, viable, and contiguous state of Palestine based on pre-June 1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital,” the Pakistani minister said.

“Which is the stated policy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”

Israeli settlements in the West Bank have grown at an increasing pace over the past few years. Almost half of the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory — all illegal under international law — were established since 2023, according to an AFP analysis of data from the Israeli rights group Peace Now, the International Crisis Group (ICG) and the UN humanitarian office (OCHA).

Including East Jerusalem, more than 550 settlements in total were built in the past 60 years, Peace Now reported. These include so-called settlement outposts, set up by settlers without formal government approval.

More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank — 700,000 when including east Jerusalem — as well as over three million Palestinians. The Israeli population in the territory has increased by nearly 50 percent since 2012, while the Palestinian population has grown by 30 percent, according to the ICG.