United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned plans to accelerate the development of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Guterres said in a statement released on Monday that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory have “no legal validity” and constitute a “flagrant violation” of international law. His criticism comes amid escalating violence in the West Bank and Israeli plans to boost the legalisation of outposts and establishment of new ones.

Guterres said the settlements remain a major obstacle to a two-state solution and to a “just, lasting and comprehensive peace” between Israelis and Palestinians.

The Secretary-General’s statement builds on repeated UN warnings over Israeli settlement policy in recent months, joining calls by the UN and its partner agencies for civilian protection and accountability for perpetrators under international humanitarian and human rights law.

Guterres’s remarks follow Israel’s announcement of new measures as part of a package of steps taken amid a surge of settler violence across the West Bank that the UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA) has described as an escalating crisis.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that his government would be “accelerating the legalisation of farm outposts and establishment of new ones” in the West Bank.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law. Outposts are small settlements that are normally established without state approval and therefore illegal under Israeli law.

Advertisement

Since Thursday, at least eight Palestinians, including a child, as well as two Israelis, have been killed. Palestinian civilian infrastructure, public spaces, and agricultural structures have also been burned or vandalised and at least 10 Palestinian families displaced.

As of Saturday, Israeli forces or settlers had killed 77 Palestinians this year, including 18 children, while three Israelis were killed by Palestinians over the same period.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Israeli forces had also tightened restrictions on Palestinian movement across the territory, cutting off thousands of people from emergency medical care and their livelihoods.

The organisation has documented more than 1,330 settler-related incidents involving casualties or property damage since January.

In February, Guterres criticised Israel’s decision to resume land registration processes in the West Bank, a move rights groups said would further entrench settlement expansion.

Earlier this month, UN officials also warned that a surge in settler violence across the West Bank was unfolding in parallel with intensifying Israeli attacks in Gaza, as displacement and civilian casualties mounted on both fronts.

All Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are considered illegal under international law, a position reaffirmed in a 2024 International Court of Justice advisory opinion that found Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian territory unlawful.