Published On 12/12/2025
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Last update: 15:02 (Mecca time)
The Israeli Cabinet approved the establishment and legalization of 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank, while settlers again attacked the Hathroura Bedouin community near Khan al-Ahmar, east of occupied Jerusalem.
Two Palestinians were also injured by the bullets of occupation soldiers at dawn on Friday during their storming of Al-Amari camp, south of Ramallah, and a Palestinian woman was injured as a result of occupation soldiers beating her in the city of Dura in Hebron.
Channel 14 said on Friday that the cabinet had approved Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s request to organize 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank, adding that Smotrich on Thursday evening presented to the cabinet members his plan to organize those settlements.
She added that some of these settlements are completely new, and some are existing and will be organized, noting that the most prominent existing settlements are Ghanim and Kadim, which were evacuated in 2005 coinciding with the dismantling of settlements in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli “Peace Now” movement says that about half a million settlers reside in settlements in the West Bank, while about 250,000 settlers reside in settlements established on the lands of East Jerusalem.
Israel’s devouring the occupied West Bank and then formally annexing it would end the possibility of implementing the principle of a two-state solution (Palestinian and Israeli) stipulated in resolutions issued by the United Nations.
This came as United Nations Secretary Antonio Guterres condemned settlement expansion in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, adding that the current year witnessed the highest levels of progress in settlement plans since the start of UN monitoring.
On the other hand, the Wall and Settlement Resistance Committee said that the Cabinet’s approval of the establishment and legalization of 19 settlements in the West Bank raises the alarm about the future of the West Bank.
The Commission added that the decision is a dangerous escalation and reveals the true intentions of the occupation government to establish the complete Judaization of the Palestinian land, and it comes within a systematic policy led by the Netanyahu government to legitimize the outposts and turn them into official settlements, which establishes control over the Palestinian lands.
Settlers continue to bulldoze land and uproot olive trees in the eastern plain of the town of Turmus Ayya, north of Ramallah#News pic.twitter.com/dlHx4op9OP
– Al Jazeera Channel (@AJArabic) December 12, 2025
Settlers attacks and incursions
Meanwhile, settlers again attacked the Hathroura Bedouin community near Khan al-Ahmar, east of occupied Jerusalem.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent reported that the settlers chased young men from the community and assaulted them.
Local sources also reported that the occupation forces stormed the community, closed its entrances, and subjected a number of residents to investigation after they defended themselves from settler attacks.
In another development, the Palestinian Red Crescent said that a Palestinian woman was injured after the occupation forces beat her in the city of Dura in Hebron, in the southern West Bank.
Two Palestinians were also injured during the occupation forces’ storming of Al-Amari camp in Al-Bireh.
At the same time, settlers continue to level land and uproot olive trees in the eastern plain of the town of Turmus Ayya, north of Ramallah.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent reported that the area has been witnessing, for days, continuous bulldozing operations by the occupation army and settlers, which included thousands of dunams of Palestinian agricultural land, during which more than two thousand olive trees were cut down.
It is noteworthy that the town of Turmus Aya is surrounded by the Shilo settlement and a number of settlement outposts.
The occupation forces arrested two young men from the city of Tulkarm today at dawn.
Local sources reported that the occupation forces arrested Ibrahim Odeh and Mahmoud Al-Yahya after raiding their homes in the Ezbet Al-Jrad suburb, east of the city.
In a related context, eyewitnesses reported that the Israeli army attacked a Palestinian family during its storming of the village of Al-Mughayir, east of Ramallah, without any injuries being reported.
Various areas of the West Bank witness almost daily incursions by the Israeli army, interspersed with arrests and clashes.
Since the war of extermination began in the Gaza Strip on October 8, 2023, which lasted two years, the Israeli army and settlers in the West Bank have killed more than 1,092 Palestinians and injured about 11,000, in addition to arresting more than 21,000.