Israel issues 15 land seizure orders in occupied West Bank

The Israeli military signed at least 15 land confiscation orders in July 2026, covering approximately 200 dunams of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank. According to Amnesty International, the orders target areas in the Jenin governorate with the apparent goal of connecting two planned Israeli settlements.

These settlements, named Emek Dotan and Noa, are among 34 new settlements approved by the current Israeli government earlier in the year. The rights organization states this represents an escalation of Israel's settlement enterprise, deepening the undermining of Palestinian rights under occupation.

Seizures breach Oslo Accords framework

A significant aspect of the July orders is their location within Area A, a zone meant to be under the control of Palestinian authorities since the Oslo Accords. Amnesty International cites the Israeli monitoring group Peace Now, which says this marks the first time since those accords that military seizure orders have been issued openly in Area A for civil purposes benefiting settlers, rather than for stated security reasons.

Heba Morayef, Amnesty International's Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, condemned the move. "These latest confiscation orders from Area A show how Israel is now brazenly expanding its annexation agenda to areas that have been under the control of the Palestinian authorities since the Oslo Accords," she said.

Fragmenting communities and livelihoods

The planned road connecting the Emek Dotan and Noa settlements will carve up the Jenin governorate, according to the Jenin governor’s office. It told Amnesty International that the road, combined with other settlement activity, will sever Jenin from other Palestinian governorates like Tulkarem, Tubas, and Nablus.

Enforcement of the confiscation orders has already started. The governor’s office warned of immense negative economic repercussions for hundreds of families, who will be cut off from agricultural lands and olive groves, especially with the olive harvest season approaching. The confiscated lands are mostly privately owned by residents of six villages in the Jenin Governorate.

Most of the land is located along Road 60, a north-south artery in the West Bank. On 29 July 2026, Israel's Supreme Planning Council of the Civil Administration approved a plan to expand this road, which Amnesty describes as critical settlement infrastructure that eases settler movement at the expense of Palestinian freedom of movement.

A pattern of annexation and obstruction

Amnesty International links these seizures to a broader state-driven campaign. In a recent report, it documented how Israeli authorities accelerate annexation through what it calls a campaign of ethnic cleansing targeting Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities in Area C of the West Bank.

The organization also notes a global outcry over Israel advancing its E1 settlement plan, announcing tenders for 1,234 Israeli homes in the occupied West Bank. If built, this plan would isolate East Jerusalem and effectively divide the West Bank in two.

Movement restrictions for Palestinians are at a high. In April 2026, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported 925 obstacles restricting the movement of 3.4 million Palestinians in the West Bank. This figure marks a 20-year high, representing a 43% increase over the annual average of the previous two decades.

Calls for international action and legal compliance

Amnesty International states that under international law, an occupying power must not confiscate land unless absolutely necessary for military reasons, a provision which does not include settlement expansion. It calls on Israel to immediately halt the unlawful land seizures and end settlement expansion.

The group urges the international community to take concrete steps, including suspending cooperation that contributes to violations and conditioning economic projects on the withdrawal of confiscation orders. It also calls on private actors to refrain from business projects that contribute to Israel's unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Amnesty International reiterates its call for Israel to remove all settlements, which it considers war crimes, and to dismantle what it describes as a system of apartheid against Palestinians, a crime against humanity. It further urges Israel to end its unlawful occupation in line with the July 2024 International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion endorsed by the UN General Assembly.