The so-called Local Committee for Planning and Construction in the Jerusalem Municipality has approved plans for the construction of 3,000 new housing units at the Gilo settlement in East Jerusalem, Israeli media reported on Thursday.
“The planned settlement units will be built on an area of approximately 280 dunams [around 252 square kilometers],” the outlets added.
"This is a historic day for the city of Jerusalem," Meir Turjeman, chairman of the municipal planning committee, was quoted as saying by the broadcaster.
"We approved the construction of thousands of new housing units in the Gilo settlement with a view to encouraging more young [Jewish Israeli] couples to come to Jerusalem," Turjeman said.
"We are committed to building wherever possible in order to increase Jerusalem's Jewish majority," he added.
The step represents a grave contravention of international law and a United Nation Security Council resolution against the Tel Aviv regime’s land expropriation and settlement expansion policies in occupied Palestinian lands.
Less than a month before US President Donald Trump took office, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2334, calling on Israel to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.”
About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
