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The international community\u2019s lack of action in taking punitive action against Israel over its pervasive breaches of international law in the occupied West Bank has contributed to making the annexation of Palestinian territory an \u201cirreversible\u201d reality, Amnesty International has said.<\/p>\n
In a statement<\/a> released on Thursday, the human rights group said impunity granted to Israel by global powers has further emboldened the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu to \u201cturbocharge\u201d efforts to dispossess Palestinians across the West Bank.<\/p>\n \u201cThe unconditional support of the USA government, combined with the pervasive lack of international accountability for Israel\u2019s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, decades of crimes under international law linked to its unlawful occupation and its system of apartheid, has further emboldened Israel to escalate its illegal actions,\u201d Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International\u2019s senior director for research, advocacy, policy and campaigns said.<\/p>\n The formalization of land grabs, the expansion of illegal settlements and state-backed settler violence in the territory \u201care a direct indictment of the international community\u2019s catastrophic failure to take decisive action,\u201d Guevara-Rosas said.<\/p>\n Countries, she added, have refused to use the tools at their disposal, such as suspension of the European Union-Israel Association Agreement, to deter Israel from its action.<\/p>\n The West Bank has been under Israeli occupation since the 1967 war. Since then, the contiguity of the Palestinian territory has been increasingly fragmented by the construction of hundreds of Israeli housing units, entrenching Israeli occupation. These settlements are illegal under international law.<\/p>\n Following Israel\u2019s genocidal war, which started following the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel in October 2023, the number of settlements has sharply expanded, and the hundreds of makeshift outposts have multiplied. The population of Jewish Israelis in these areas has now soared past half a million people.<\/p>\n At the same time, Israeli army raids, attacks, house demolitions and arrests in the occupied territory are at unprecedented levels, while settlers attack and kill Palestinians and rampage through their property with impunity, backed by the military and the state.<\/p>\n At least 1,094 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops and settlers in the West Bank since October 2023, according to the latest United Nations figures<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last week, the UN Human Rights Council warned in a new report (PDF<\/a>) that Israeli policies in the West Bank \u2013 including \u201cthe systematic unlawful use of force\u201d by the Israeli army and unlawful demolitions of Palestinian homes \u2013 aim to uproot Palestinian communities.<\/p>\n The UN report raised concerns of \u201cethnic cleansing\u201d by Israeli authorities in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, amid increased attacks and forcible transfers that \u201cappear to aim at a permanent displacement\u201d of Palestinians.<\/p>\n Amnesty International outlined a list of actions taken by the Israeli government since December:<\/p>\n On December 10, 2025, the Israel Land Authority published a tender for 3,401 housing units in the E1 area, east of Jerusalem, to expand the illegal settlement<\/span> of Ma\u2019ale Adumim and create a continuum with occupied East Jerusalem. This would split the West Bank into two.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n On December 11, 2025, Israel\u2019s security cabinet approved plans to establish 19 new settlements, bringing the total number approved by the current coalition government to 68 in just three years and the total number of official settlements to about 210.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n On January 5, 2026, the Israeli civil administration designated 694 dunams of land belonging to the Palestinian towns of Deir Istiya, Biddya and Kafr Thulth in the northern West Bank as \u201cstate land\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n On February 8, 2026, Israel\u2019s security cabinet approved<\/span> a series of sweeping measures to expand its powers across the occupied West Bank, including easing the sale of Palestinian land to Israeli settlers and expanding the powers of Israeli authorities in areas under Palestinian control.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n On February 15, 2026, the Israeli cabinet issued a decision that amounts to annexation under Israeli law. It allocated more than 244 million Israeli shekels ($78m) for the establishment of a government mechanism to facilitate land registration in Area C, transferring the powers of land registration from the civil administration to Israel\u2019s Ministry of Justice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n These actions took place despite the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling (PDF<\/a>) in 2024 that the \u201cIsraeli occupation is illegal and should end its unlawful presence \u2026 as rapidly as possible \u2026 including removing settlements and forcing settlers out.\u201d And last year, the UN General Assembly issued a resolution setting September 2025 as the deadline to end Israel\u2019s occupation.<\/p>\n \u201cYet instead of complying, Israel has simply invented new ways to violate international law, further entrenching its unlawful occupation and apartheid \u2013 while the international community continues, at best, to pay lip service to Palestinians\u2019 rights and taken no effective action,\u201d Guevara-Rosas said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n