Israel’s war minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday gave the green light for the construction of a new settler neighborhood in al-Khalil the occupied West Bank.

Israeli media sources reported that the new neighborhood is set to create a settler community between the Ibrahimi Mosque and Avraham Avinu neighborhood and thus doubling the number of settlers in al-Khalil.

The construction of the new neighborhood will entail the demolition of several Palestinian buildings.

The United Nations Security Council on 23 December 2016 adopted Resolution 2334 which called for an immediate halt to the settlement construction activity in the Palestinian territories.

However the US has announced lately that it no longer considers the settlement construction a violation of international law.

The Israeli government in its weekly meeting on Sunday approved the construction of a new settler neighborhood in the heart of al-Khalil city south of the West Bank.

Israeli media sources reported that the plan involves the construction of 31 settlement units at a total cost of 21.6 million NIS.

Israel’s War Minister Avigdor Lieberman welcomed the government’s decision and said that the city will “flourish” with a new Jewish neighborhood.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday warned of the serious repercussions of an Israeli settlement expansion project in the Old City of al-Khalil.

The Ministry said that the international community’s silence has encouraged Israel to escalate its settlement construction activity in the Palestinian territories.

It explained that the targeted area which was seized by Israel for “military purposes” had been used as a central bus station.