Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on Friday that 800 hectares (8 square kilometers) of West Bank territory is state land. The Jordan Valley land will be "designated for the construction of housing units," according to the Israeli state media Kan.
Smotrich said Israel is "promoting settlement through hard work and in a strategic manner all over the country," despite "those in Israel and the world who seek to undermine our right" to the land in the West Bank. Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under the United Nations' Fourth Geneva Convention and have been condemned by the international community.
