The organization Amnesty International (AI) has denounced this Thursday that the Israeli Army has intensified its actions to accelerate the annexation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, issuing new "illegal" orders for land confiscation in the West Bank, even within the area managed solely by the Palestinian Authority.
According to the NGO, in July the Israeli Army signed at least 15 confiscation orders affecting about 200 dunams (20 hectares) in areas A and C of the Jenin governorate, in northern West Bank, in order to link the settlements of Emek Dotan and Noa, whose creation was authorized by the current Israeli government at the beginning of this year.
"These latest confiscation orders from Area A show how Israel is now shamelessly expanding its annexation agenda to areas that have been under the control of Palestinian authorities since the Oslo Accords," criticized the regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Heba Morayef.
In this regard, she has called on countries that maintain "close trade and political relations" with Israel to adopt "urgent measures to pressure Israel to rescind these orders." "Any state that assists in the expansion of Israel's illegal settlements or other war crimes risks being complicit in international crimes against Palestinians," she warned.
Morayef has emphasized that the construction of new routes to connect the settlements "divides the Jenin governorate into 'isolated' zones, which 'undermines the geographical and economic integrity' of the Palestinian territory and harms local communities, 'fragmenting them further and restricting their freedom of movement.'
"Along with the forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Area C, these measures practically illustrate the determination of Israeli authorities to intensify their formal annexation of Palestinian lands throughout the West Bank," she argued.
According to the NGO Peace Now, this is the first occasion since the Oslo Accords in which orders are issued in Area A that favor settlers and are not justified for security reasons. Amnesty has also recalled that in May 2026 the Israeli Army confiscated private land within the city of Jenin to establish a military base, while expansion projects continue in the E1 area, east of Jerusalem.
In relation to the project to connect Emek Dotan and Noa, the office of the governor of Jenin has alerted that the execution of these orders —a plan that will separate the city from other Palestinian governorates such as Tulkarem, Tubas, and Nablus— is already underway, which could lead to "negative economic repercussions for hundreds of families" who depend on fields and olive groves, just at the doors of the olive harvest season.
The affected lands mostly belong to private owners from the villages of Qabatiya, Arraba, Mirka, Misilya, Jirba, and Al Yamun. Most of it is located along Road 60, which crosses the West Bank from north to south, Amnesty has specified.
On July 29, 2026, the High Planning Council of the Civil Administration of Israel greenlit a project to expand this road, which facilitates the transit of settlers through the West Bank and is used to close access to Palestinian localities through metal gates, checkpoints, and physical barriers.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) already warned in April that it has counted 925 obstacles that limit the freedom of movement of about 3.4 million Palestinians in the West Bank.
Amnesty has added that the Army has issued other confiscation orders to expand infrastructure and roads intended for settlers at various points in the West Bank, including Qusra, in the Nablus governorate, and Kufr Ni mé, in the Ramallah governorate.
"By confiscating Palestinian lands to expand their illegal settlements, Israeli authorities are intensifying long-standing violations of International Law and further entrenching a system of dispossession and oppression," Morayef has stated.
Therefore, he has insisted that the "international community must go beyond rhetoric" and adopt "concrete measures," such as "suspending cooperation that contributes to these violations, conditioning economic projects with Israel on the withdrawal of these orders, and ensuring that companies do not support projects linked to the settlements."
International Law considers all settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories illegal, although the Israeli government distinguishes between those it has authorized and those it has not, recognizing only the latter as contrary to the law, despite criticism from the international community and rulings from the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The Area C is the largest of the three administrative divisions in which the West Bank was fragmented after the Oslo Accords, of a provisional nature and never fully implemented. This zone remains under Israeli administration, while Area B is under administrative management of the Palestinian Authority and military control of Israel. In turn, Area A is under exclusive administration of the Palestinian Authority.