Illegal Israeli settlements, outposts in West Bank reach 592, says Palestinian body

The number of illegal Israeli settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank has reached 592, with Israel controlling about 42% of the territory, a Palestinian government body said Saturday.

The figures were published by the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission in a briefing on key indicators of Israeli settlement expansion and control of Palestinian land.

The commission said 780,000 Israeli occupiers were living in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, as of the end of July.

Of those, around 333,600 live in illegal settlements in Jerusalem, and 446,400 elsewhere in the West Bank.

Israeli occupiers are spread across 192 illegal settlements and 400 settlement outposts, including 231 pastoral outposts, according to the commission.

Official Israeli orders show that Israeli control extends to 42% of the West Bank's area of some 5,660 square kilometers (2,185 square miles), said the commission.

It added that Israel controls 71% of Area C and as much as 91% of the Palestinian Jordan Valley.

The West Bank was divided into Areas A, B and C under the 1995 Oslo II Accord. Area A is under Palestinian administrative and security control, Area B is under Palestinian administrative and Israeli security control, while Area C, which makes up about 60% of the West Bank, is under full Israeli control.

The West Bank has witnessed continued escalation in Israeli military offensives and occupier attacks since Israel launched its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, alongside the expansion of illegal settlement outposts, construction of occupier-only roads and tighter restrictions on Palestinian movement.