Khaled Yousef and Sahin Demir 14 September 14 September 2026 Twenty Israeli occupier families have seized land in the Jordan Valley, eastern occupied West Bank as Israel continues to expand illegal settlements in the Palestinian territory. The occupiers on Monday moved into the newly established agricultural settlement of Bitron, which was inaugurated ahead of the Jewish New Year on Sept. 12, Israel’s Channel 12 reported. Bitron is one of 13 settlements that Israel’s Security Cabinet approved separating from neighboring illegal settlements last year as a step toward recognizing them as independent settlements. Channel 12 described Bitron as the first agricultural settlement established by Israel in around 20 years. On March 23, 2025, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that the Security Cabinet had approved his proposal to separate 13 settlements in the West Bank, including Bitron, from neighboring settlements.“Another step toward normalizing settlement,” Smotrich said at the time, adding that the 13 new settlements would be recognized as independent settlements. Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said the decision increased the number of settlements recognized by Israel from 127 to 140 and demonstrated that the sites were not merely neighborhoods of existing settlements. Channel 12 said the establishment of Bitron is part of an Israeli project launched after the events of Oct. 7, 2023, aimed at establishing and strengthening illegal settlements along what it considers its eastern border.根据巴勒斯坦殖民与隔离墙抵抗委员会2025年3月公布的数据，136个农牧业前哨据点控制了超过4.8万公顷（11.86万英亩）的土地，这些据点主要集中在约旦河谷和约旦河西岸东部坡地。该委员会指出，这一面积约为现有以色列定居点总建成区的三倍。

联合国认为，以色列在巴勒斯坦被占领土上的定居点违反国际法，并多次警告其扩张行为侵蚀了两国方案的前景。