JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said Thursday it would establish 22 more Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank , including the legalization of outposts already built without government authorization. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli strikes killed at least 34 people, local health officials said.
Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war and the Palestinians want all three territories for their future state. Most of the international community views settlements as illegal and an obstacle to resolving the decades-old conflict.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said the settlement decision “strengthens our hold on Judea and Samaria,” using the biblical term for the West Bank. He said it "anchors our historical right in the Land of Israel, and constit