Palestinian group Hamas on Sunday called for escalating resistance against Israel over settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
In a statement, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum termed Israeli preparations to carry out settlement projects in the Jordan Valley as a "theft and crime that it is part of the Israeli aggression" on the Palestinians and their lands.
On Saturday, Palestinian activist Aref Daraghmeh said Israeli authorities were "fencing" large areas of the Khirbet Ehmair town in Jordan Valley for building new settlements. He said in a Facebook post that Israeli authorities were preparing the land to construct infrastructure for settlers.
Moutaz Bsharat, the head of a local committee against the Israeli barrier, said Israeli settlements council plans to build new settlement units and a school for the settlers in the seized lands.
Some 65,000 Palestinians live in Jordan Valley in 34 communities, while around 13,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements there.
International law regards both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there illegal.
