ISRAEL said today that it would establish 22 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the legalisation of outposts already built without government authorisation.

This comes as local health officials accused the Israelis of killing at least 13 people in the Gaza Strip today.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Middle East war and the Palestinians want all three territories for their future state.

Most of the international community views settlements as illegal and an obstacle to resolving the decades-old conflict.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said the settlement decision “strengthens our hold on Judea and Samaria,” using the biblical term for the West Bank.

He said that it “anchors our historical right in the Land of Israel and constitutes a crushing response to Palestinian terrorism."

He said that the construction of settlements was also “a strategic move that prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel.”

The Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now said that the announcement was the most extensive move of its kind since the 1993 Oslo accords that launched the now-defunct peace process.

It said that the settlements, which are deep inside the territory, would “dramatically reshape the West Bank and entrench the occupation even further.”

Israel has already built well over 100 settlements across the territory that are home to some 500,000 settlers. The settlements range from small hilltop outposts to fully developed communities with apartment blocks, shopping malls, factories and parks.

The West Bank is home to three million Palestinians who live under Israeli military rule with the Palestinian Authority administering population centres.

Peace Now said: “The government is making clear — again and without restraint — that it prefers deepening the occupation and advancing de facto annexation over pursuing peace.”

Israel has accelerated settlement construction in recent years — long before Hamas's October 7 2023 attack ignited the war in Gaza — confining Palestinians to smaller and smaller areas of the West Bank and making the prospect of establishing a viable, independent state even more remote.

Meanwhile, in Gaza Israeli air attacks killed at least 13 Palestinians today, according to local hospitals.

The Israelis killed four in a car in Gaza City and another eight, including two women and three children, were killed in an attack on a home in Jabaliya.

An Israeli attack on a built-up refugee camp in central Gaza killed at least one person and wounded 18.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which claims to only targets militants.