Israel says it will legalise nine West Bank settlements

Israel's security cabinet announced on Sunday that it would legalise nine settlements in the occupied West Bank following a series of attacks in east Jerusalem, including one that killed three Israelis.

"In response to the murderous terrorist attacks in Jerusalem, the security cabinet decided unanimously to authorise nine communities in Judea and Samaria," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement that included the name Israel uses for the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.

"These communities have existed for many years; some have existed for decades," it said.

These so-called "wild" settlements were built without authorisation from the Israeli government.

"The Civil Administration Higher Planning Committee will be convened in the coming days to approve the construction of new residential units in existing communities in Judea and Samaria," the statement said.

It said the "security cabinet made a series of additional decisions in the framework of the determined fight against terrorism" including strengthening security forces in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu said earlier Sunday during a meeting of his government he wanted to "strengthen settlements", which are illegal under international law.

More than 475,000 Israelis reside in settlements in the West Bank, where 2.8 million Palestinians live.

Netanyahu also announced that his government wanted to submit legislation to the Knesset (parliament) this week to revoke the Israeli nationality of "terrorists".

The measures apply to Israeli Arabs as well as to Palestinians with resident status in east Jerusalem, part of the city annexed by Israel.

This announcement comes amid an outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

A Palestinian killed three Israelis, including two children, in an attack on Friday in Ramot, a Jewish settlement neighbourhood in east Jerusalem, and Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teenager in a raid in the northern West Bank on Sunday.

Since the beginning of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of at least 46 Palestinians (including combatants and civilians), nine Israeli civilians and one Ukrainian woman, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli and Palestinian sources.

Israeli air strike hits Hamas complex

Israel hit Gaza with air strikes on Monday in response to a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave at the weekend, the army said, as unrest persisted in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said one person was killed in a pre-dawn Israeli army raid in Nablus in the northern West Bank, the scene of near-relentless violence over the past year.

The army did not immediately comment on the Nablus raid.

But in Gaza, it said it had struck "an underground complex containing raw materials used for the manufacturing of rockets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation".

The strikes were launched were "in response to the Saturday rocket launch from Gaza into Israel," the army added in a statement.

Following the Israeli strikes, air raid sirens sounded in communities in near the Gaza border, the military said.

There were no reported casualties in Gaza or Israel following the latest round of missile fire.

But Israeli-Palestinian conflict is enduring a dramatic increase in violence.

Since the start of the year, the conflict has claimed the lives of 47 Palestinian adults and children, including militants and civilians, following the latest death in Nablus.

Nine Israeli civilians, including three children, and one Ukrainian civilian have been killed over the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official sources from both sides.

In a move like to inflame tensions, Israel's security cabinet late Saturday announced that it would legalise nine West Bank Jewish settlements in response to fatal Palestinian attacks in annexed east Jerusalem.

A security cabinet statement said many of the newly authorised communities had existed for years, and others for decades, but had not previously been recognised as legitimate by Israel's government.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Six Day War.

Some 475,000 Jewish settlers now live in the Palestinian territory, in communities considered illegal under international law.

Most of that population is in settlements that Israel has unilaterally authorised, but some live in communities that have not been given government authorisation.

The security cabinet also said it intends to announce a new round of settler housing construction in the West Bank, a step likely to draw widespread international condemnation.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned against settlement expansion in a trip to the region last month.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hardline government also announced a beefed-up security presence in Israel-annexed east Jerusalem, the scene of two recent deadly attacks targeting civilians.