The Israeli occupation army has seized about 17 acres of Palestinian land in the northern occupied West Bank, despite growing international condemnation of its ongoing land-grab policies.
According to a statement published on Sunday on the website of the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CWRC), the confiscated 70,000-square-meter area is located across several villages in the Nablus governorate.
“The Israeli occupation authorities have taken control of 17 acres and 147 square meters of land through a military order, affecting areas in the villages of Qaryut, Al-Lubban Al-Sharqiya and Al-Sawiya in Nablus Governorate,” read the statement.
The move is aimed at establishing a buffer zone around the Eli settlement in the area, CWRC said.
The Commission highlighted that “the Israeli authorities published the military order after the objection period had already expired.”
The military order permits objections within one week of issuance; however, the order is dated September 21, 2025.
Since the beginning of 2025, Israeli authorities have issued 53 military land seizure orders for various military purposes, the Commission further noted.
The Commission reported that Israeli authorities had seized thousands of square meters of Palestinian land and established 25 buffer zones around settlements over the past two years.
The development comes as Israeli hawkish finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has vowed an “escalation” of land expropriation in the occupied West Bank.
Last month, Smotrich announced plans to annex more than 80 percent of the occupied West Bank in a bid to block the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Smotrich, back then, called the West Bank annexation “a preventative step” against moves by many countries to recognize Palestinian statehood.
He has been one of the spearheads of Israel’s plans for settlement expansion and the annexation of the occupied West Bank.
Israel recently approved a major settlement project, called E1, which aims to split the occupied West Bank into two parts, cutting off the northern cities of Ramallah and Nablus from Bethlehem and al-Khalil in the south and isolating East al-Quds.
The international community, including the UN, considers the Israeli settlements illegal under international law.
Earlier this year, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said that the Israeli policy of expanding and consolidating settlements across the occupied West Bank amounts to “a war crime.”
The UN rights chief said Israel must evacuate all settlers from the occupied West Bank and make reparations for decades of illegal settlement.
Turk urged the international community to take meaningful action against the occupying entity.
In an advisory opinion last July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds.
The United States is the Israeli regime’s main international backer, granting the Zionist leaders laissez-faire to commit atrocities with impunity, including the genocide of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, their forced displacement, child-killing, and occupation and annexation of Palestinian land.
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