
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to move forward with a controversial settlement expansion plan that would carve up territory that Palestinians claim for their own state.
"We will keep our promise that there will be no Palestinian state, this land belongs to us," Netanyahu said during a visit to the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim, where thousands of new homes will be added.
"We will protect our heritage, our land and our security...We will double the population of the city," the Israeli prime minister said in an event broadcast live from his office.
Last month, the E1 plan, which would divide the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, received final approval.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich supported plans to build around 3,400 homes on this highly sensitive plot of land, located between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim.
His announcement sparked controversy, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres declaring that this solution would effectively divide the West Bank and pose an "existential threat" to a united Palestinian state.