In violation of international law and United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions, the Israeli occupation government issued an order to loot around 45 dunams of land in Beit Lahm in the central occupied West Bank to expand its illegal settlements on Palestinian land, local news agencies reported.

All Israeli settlements are in violation of Article 49, paragraph 6 of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention. According to Article 84, paragraph four of the additional first protocol of 1977; an appendix to the 1949 Geneva Convention; and Article 8 of the 1998 Rome Statute, they are deemed war crimes.

On his account, the town's mayor Moath Salman stated that Israeli occupation forces delivered a notification to the municipality telling them of an Israeli military order to seize 45 dunums of land belonging to Palestinians.

The looted land is adjacent to the illegal Israeli settlement of "Emanuel", which was erected illegally on Palestinian land.

Concurrently,  Israeli occupation forces delivered notices to eight Palestinian landlords in the nearby village of Deir Ballout, arbitrarily ordering them to halt the building of residential and commercial structures in the town.

Not an isolated incident

This comes shortly after the Israeli occupation forces stormed the Palestinian town of Al-Issawiya and the Khan Al-Ahmar community in occupied Al-Quds, where they demolished a greenhouse.

At the time, the Israeli Supreme Court issued a final decision regarding the Israeli government's quest to forcibly expel the village's residents.

Far-right Israeli Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir requested that all "illegal" buildings be ruled against equally.

The right-wing extremist's proposition came during a cabinet session in protest against a settlement outpost illegally established by Israeli settlers southeast of Nablus, which they called "Or ha-Hayim" or "The Light of Life." Ben-Gvir demanded that Khan Al-Ahmar be demolished immediately since illegal Israeli settlers were forced out of the outpost.

Ben-Gvir is one of the most notorious Israeli politicians, as he is infamous for constantly carrying out provocative tours in Al-Aqsa mosque and rallying illegal Israeli settlers that call for the death of Arabs and Palestinians alike while chanting racist slogans and slurs against Muslims and Arabs.

Khan Al-Ahmar is among various areas targeted by the Israeli occupation to execute its "E1" settlement project, through which "Tel Aviv" seeks to usurp Palestinian territories extending from the East of Al-Quds through the Dead Sea, aimed at voiding the area of any Palestinian presence as part of a bigger project that entails splitting the West Bank into two while isolating occupied Al-Quds from the occupied West Bank.

The village acts as an eastern gate to occupied Al-Quds, and the settlement plan failing there means the occupation would have failed to divide the occupied West Bank into cantos, the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission explained.