ISRAEL has issued a tender for the construction of nearly 1,000 additional settler homes in the occupied West Bank, an anti-settlement watchdog said today.

The warning came on the 500th day of Israel’s war on Gaza and as the Israeli security cabinet prepares to discuss the next phase of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

Peace Now said that the planned 974 new housing units in the Efrat settlement would see it expand by 40 per cent and further block the development of the nearby Palestinian city of Bethlehem.