Israel issues 16 orders to annex Palestinian land

RAMALLAH, Palestine

Israeli authorities have issued 16 confiscation orders for Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank over the past three days, a Palestinian official said Monday.

"The confiscations aim to create a fait accompli in the West Bank," Walid Assaf, the head of the National Committee to Resist the Wall and Settlements, told Anadolu Agency.

He said hundreds of dunums of Palestinian land will be confiscated under the Israeli orders.

"In all, the orders aim to serve the settlement project and keep the Palestinian land and their natural resources under full Israeli control," Assaf said.

There was no comment from Israeli authorities on the official's claims.

In a report last month, Israeli group Peace Now said Israeli settlement building in the West Bank has spiked since U.S. President Donald Trump came to power in 2017.

Roughly 650,000 Israeli Jews currently live on more than 127 settlements in occupied West Bank and 15 settlements in occupied Jerusalem built since 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The Palestinians want these territories -- along with the Gaza Strip -- for the establishment of a future Palestinian state.

International law views both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there as illegal.

*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara