Israel has approved a plan to construct 2,500 new settlement homes in the occupied West Bank, two days after the country accepted building permits for more than 500 settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem.
Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement on Tuesday that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed on the approval "in response to housing needs".
It is the largest recent settlement building plan announced by Israel, which came as the country feels emboldened by US President Donald Trump, who is not critical of illegal settlement activity, as opposed to his predecessor Barack Obama.
Lieberman said the majority of the housing units will be built in existing settlement blocs, areas where most settlers live and which Israel wants to keep under its control under any future peace deal with Palestinian officials.
Palestinian leaders condemn all Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territory, which are illegal under international law.
"We build and continue to build," Netanyahu wrote on Twitter shortly after Lieberman's announcement on Tuesday.
On Sunday, Israeli authorities approved the construction of 566 settler homes in East Jerusalem.
That announcement came shortly after the inauguration of Donald Trump in the United States, with Israeli official saying the permits had been held up until the end of Obama's administration.
"The rules of the game have changed with Donald Trump's arrival as president," Meir Turgeman, Jerusalem's deputy mayor, told AFP news agency.
"We no longer have our hands tied as in the time of Barack Obama. Now we can finally build."Aljazeera