Peace Now said that Israel has approved the construction of almost 13,000 housing units in illegal settlements, the most since the group began tracking.

Israel’s far-right government has approved record construction in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank in its first six months in power, according to the left-wing Israeli movement Peace Now.

The organisation said on Thursday that the construction of 12,855 settler housing units had been approved across the West Bank since January, the largest number it has recorded since it started tracking such developments in 2012.

US ‘deeply troubled’ by major settlement expansion in Israel

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More than 700,000 Israelis live in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967.

More than three million Palestinians live in the same area, subject to Israeli military rule that rights groups have equated to apartheid.