Israel’s Cabinet has secretly approved the establishment of 34 new settlements in the occupied West Bank — Israel’s largest-ever recognition of unauthorized outposts in a single step. The Cabinet made the decision on April 1, but it was classified until Thursday, when an Israeli military censor approved it for publication.

This comes amid a sharp rise in Israeli settler violence against Palestinians. On Wednesday, 28-year-old Alaa Khaled Sabih was shot and killed as armed Israeli settlers attacked the village of Tayasir, east of Tubas. Separately, 65-year-old Palestinian farmer Hussam Abdel Latif Wahdan says he narrowly escaped a mob that descended on his farm.

Hussam Abdel Latif Wahdan: “Yesterday, they attacked us. I was on my way to open the water irrigation system, and they attacked me, around 12 settlers. … I escaped, thank God. They were very close to me, only around 10 meters away.”

The U.N. reports over 1,070 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem by Israeli forces or settlers since October 2023.