By Staff, Agencies

“Israel” plans to authorize 1,000 new settling units for the "Eli" settlement in the occupied West Bank.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Wednesday that he and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich “agreed to move ahead immediately” with the planning. No further timetable was provided.

“Our response to ‘terror’ is to hit it hard and build in ‘our’ land,” a statement from their meeting said.

It is unclear if the 1,000 units are from the 4,560 already proposed across the occupied West Bank or if they are entirely separate. The Jerusalem Post reported that the units are separate from the previously proposed ones.

The United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres said previously that “Israeli” settlements “are a flagrant violation of international law.”

“The expansion of these illegal settlements is a significant driver of tensions and violence and deepens humanitarian needs.”

A new “Israeli” resolution gives practically all control over planning approval in the West Bank to Smotrich, who is himself a settler and a fierce proponent of settlement expansion.

The decision, which takes immediate effect, speeds up the process of expanding West Bank settlements and retroactively legalizes settlements under “Israeli” law.