Doha: The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights declared on Friday that Israel’s plan to build thousands of new settlement housing units in the occupied West Bank is illegal under international law. The UN rights office warned that the plan poses a serious threat of forced displacement to Palestinians in the area, describing such actions as a potential war crime.

According to Qatar News Agency, a spokesperson for the Commissioner stated that the proposed expansion would fragment the West Bank into isolated enclaves, stressing that the transfer of an occupying power’s civilian population into occupied territory constitutes a war crime. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, part of the far-right government, recently announced the implementation of a plan to construct thousands of new settlement units in the West Bank.

The United Nations continues to affirm that settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal and calls for their cessation, warning that they undermine the possibility of achieving a two-state solution. Most international powers view settlement expansion as a major obstacle to peace, as it fragments the land Palestinians hope to include in their future state.