[1/5] An aerial view shows a cluster of mobile homes in Beit Hogla, a settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, February 15, 2023.
REUTERS/Ronen ZvulunBEIT HOGLA SETTLEMENT, West Bank, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Between Jericho and the Dead Sea, Israeli settlers rejoice after the government granted their outpost retroactive approval.
Drawing Western concern and Palestinian anger, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government authorised nine settler outposts in the occupied West Bank this week, in response to two Palestinian street attacks in which nine Israelis were killed.
Israel disputes the illegality of the settlements and cites Biblical and historical ties to the West Bank, which it calls by its Biblical name - Judea and Samaria.
More than 450,000 people, or less than 5% of Israel’s population, are Jewish settlers in the West Bank, home to about 3 million Palestinians who exercise limited self-rule there.