The Hamas movement has strongly condemned the Israeli government’s decision to approve a plan legalizing 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank, describing the move as a dangerous escalation in Israel’s policy of “creeping annexation” and a direct assault on the historical and legal rights of the Palestinian people.

In a statement issued on Monday, Haroun Nasser al-Din, a member of Hamas’s political bureau and head of its Jerusalem affairs office, said the decision constitutes “a dangerous colonial step that entrenches annexation and seeks to erase the Palestinian people’s historical and legal rights.” He stressed that settlement expansion remains a central instrument of Israel’s forced displacement and land seizure policies.

Nasser al-Din warned that the legalization of settlements is unfolding alongside intensified actions by Israeli occupation forces and settlers, reflecting what he described as the Israeli government’s clear determination to accelerate the settlement project across the occupied West Bank. He further cautioned that this expansion is being accompanied by a parallel escalation in raids on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, including repeated violations and deliberate desecration of Islamic holy sites.

According to the Hamas official, these actions form part of a systematic policy aimed at Judaizing Jerusalem and altering its religious, cultural, and historical character. He emphasized that settlement expansion and incursions into the Al-Aqsa compound are “two sides of the same policy,” rooted in aggression, domination, and the imposition of Israeli sovereignty over occupied Palestinian land.

Nasser al-Din called on the international community to assume its legal and moral responsibilities by taking immediate and concrete measures to halt settlement activity, protect Islamic and Christian holy sites, and hold Israel accountable for its ongoing violations of international law.

The condemnation follows an announcement on Sunday by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also holds a senior role within the Israeli war ministry overseeing settlement affairs. Smotrich revealed that the Israeli security cabinet had formally approved the legalization of 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank, based on a joint proposal he submitted with Israeli war minister Yisrael Katz.

In a public statement, Smotrich openly celebrated the move, claiming that the current Israeli government has legalized and regularized the status of 69 settlement outposts across the West Bank over the past three years. He described the policy as an “unprecedented, record-breaking achievement.”

The Israeli cabinet had already approved, on December 11, a list of 19 settlements, including long-established outposts as well as others in advanced stages of construction. Israeli media characterized the decision as one of the most extensive settlement “regularization” measures in recent years.

The plan also includes reinstating the settlements of Ganim and Kadim to Israel’s official settlement map, nearly 20 years after they were evacuated under Israel’s 2005 disengagement plan, along with the legalization of additional settlements, particularly in the northern West Bank.

Smotrich has openly acknowledged that these settlement projects serve a clear political objective: preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state. He stated that the measures being implemented on the ground are designed to entrench Israel’s de facto control over the West Bank, further undermining Palestinian self-determination and violating long-standing international consensus that considers Israeli settlements illegal under international law. (ILKHA)