The uproar centers on E1, a long-frozen settlement project near Jerusalem that Israel revived this week by opening bidding for its first construction phase.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the move "unacceptable" in a post on X, adding that the bloc has "long opposed" the plan.
Her comments echoed two separate joint statements issued Thursday. Leaders of France, Germany, Britain and Italy urged Israel to halt settlement growth in the West Bank, while a wider group — those four countries plus the Netherlands, Canada and Norway — said the tender for more than 1,200 E1 homes broke "the principle of territorial contiguity" of Palestinian land.
Built between Ma'ale Adumim and East Jerusalem, the settlement would cut East Jerusalem off from the rest of the West Bank and divide the territory into isolated northern and southern halves. Washington and European governments have opposed the project for years, and construction stalled for over a decade before Israel approved it in August 2025.
Israel has built hundreds of settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem since seizing them in the 1967 war, and about 700,000 Jewish settlers now live alongside some 3.8 million Palestinians.
Israel's nationalist government backs continued expansion, drawing settlers with cheaper housing, state subsidies and religious appeal — even as Palestinians and much of the international community, including the U.N. and EU, view the growth as undermining prospects for an independent Palestinian state.
Alongside the settlement push, watchdogs describe an intensifying pattern of settler attacks that Israeli authorities have done little to stop, including strikes on ambulances trying to reach wounded Palestinians.
Near Hebron, settlers shot and killed a 17-year-old; near Jenin, soldiers shot a 14-year-old in the chest and back. In Deir Shams, settlers smashed an ambulance's windows and stole livestock while it responded to five Palestinians they had attacked. In Jenin, a delayed ambulance response contributed to the death of a man shot by soldiers, who bled to death.
Palestinian officials say settlers have killed 25 Palestinians so far this year — the most since such tracking began in 2019, up from 14 last year and 11 the year before.
The violence has been especially acute in Kusra, a village near Nablus, where Israeli forces have backed a nearly two-week siege of three Palestinian homes.
U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee said Thursday that Washington would "consider sanctions" against settlers responsible for crimes there, having previously branded those involved in the siege "Israeli terrorists" engaged in harassment and intimidation.
Palestinian officials argue the combination of settlement expansion and escalating violence is designed to push Palestinians off their land ahead of an eventual Israeli annexation of the West Bank — a warning shared widely abroad. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who signed off on E1 last year, made little secret of the ambition, saying the project would help "bury the idea of a Palestinian state".
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Source: Polish Radio, PAP