LONDON: Israeli authorities seized an 8,645-sq.-meter plot of land on Tuesday in the Palestinian village of Deir Abu Da’if, east of Jenin, for military purposes.

Tariq Ighbaria, the official responsible for the settlements file in the Jenin Governorate, said that the move is part of Israeli settlement expansion efforts to impose new realities on the ground, according to the Palestine News Agency.

The targeted land is located near Ganim, where Israel has reopened an illegal outpost since August, after pushing out settlers from the area 20 years ago.

Ighbaria noted that this new military seizure order targets Palestinian-owned land near settlements in the occupied West Bank and Jenin environs, effectively barring the owners from accessing or utilizing their property, while restricting the expansion of Palestinian communities.

“These actions are part of a broader policy aimed at consolidating control over vast areas of Palestinian-owned land and isolating villages and towns from their surrounding agricultural hinterlands,” the report added.

Many members of the UN have long condemned Israeli settlement building and expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They are widely considered to be illegal under international law.

Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem in June 1967 and has since maintained a military-run regime over security and civilian matters related to Palestinian lives.