Israeli settlers have recently accelerated the construction of hundreds of housing units in the unauthorized settlement of Kida, build illegally on the village of Jaloud land, south of Nablus, said a local activist.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors colonial settlement activities in the northern West Bank, told WAFA hundreds of housing units were built during the past weeks inside and outside the built-up area of the settlement, which was established in 2003.

In 2016, the Israeli Supreme Court issued a decision prohibiting the expropriation of more Palestinian residents’ lands to expand the said settlement, however, settlers returned and bulldozed more land and built luxury homes there.

“Settlements amount to the transfer of a State’s population to the territory it occupies, which is prohibited by international humanitarian law,” said the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

To meet its international legal obligations, Israel must stop building settlements, reverse any settlement development activity and make full reparations, which include the obligation to re-establish the situation affected by the violation. The transfer of the occupying Power’s population to the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime that may lead to the individual criminal responsibility of the officials involved,” said OHCHR.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency