THE Israelis are moving ahead with controversial plans to construct a new settlement project near Jerusalem that would effectively cut the West Bank in two, a monitoring group said today.

Yoni Mizrahi, who runs the anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now’s settlement watch division, said the new tender process would enable bids from developers for what is known as the E1 project and could mean work beginning by the end of this month.

The development on an open tract of land east of Jerusalem, has been under consideration for more than two decades, but was frozen due to pressure from previous US administrations.

The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.

The E1 project is especially contentious because it runs from the outskirts of Jerusalem deep into the occupied West Bank. Critics say it would prevent the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state in the territory.

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who oversees settlement policy, has long pushed for the plan to become a reality.

In August of last year Mr Smotrich said: “The Palestinian state is being erased from the table not with slogans but with actions,” when Israel gave final approval to the plan. “Every settlement, every neighbourhood, every housing unit is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea.”

Peace Now says the publication of the tender “reflects an accelerated effort to advance construction in E1.”

Meanwhile, in Gaza, the United Nations said on Tuesday that aid groups now have enough food on hand to sustain people in the enclave for the first time since the war began more than two years ago.

“The January round is the first since October 2023 in which partners had sufficient stock to meet 100 per cent of the minimum caloric standard,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.

The Israelis have blocked the flow of much-needed humanitarian aid into Gaza despite agreements reached in the ceasefire agreement that took effect on October 10.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief called on Israel on Tuesday to lift the restrictions to avert deaths from exposure, hunger and a lack of medicines, as thousands of displaced Palestinians return to what is left of their homes.

“To deliver aid rapidly, safely and at the scale required, international NGOs must be able to operate in a sustained and predictable way,” Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, said in a statement from the 27-nation bloc, referring to non-governmental organisations.