Israel has approved a plan to increase the number of settlers in the occupied Golan Heights Israel-Palestine conflict news

The move comes days after rebel groups toppled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and weeks before Donald Trump is re-elected US president.

The Israeli government has approved a plan to increase the number of illegal settlers He occupied the Golan HeightsDays after Syria seized more Syrian territory following the ouster of longtime Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the government had “unanimously approved” the “demographic development” of the occupied territory, which would seek to double Israel’s population.

The new plan is only for a part of the Golan Heights occupied by Israel since 1967. In 1981, the Israeli Knesset moved to impose Israeli law on the territory through an effective annexation.

The plan does not apply to a part of Syrian land was captured By Israel after the overthrow of Assad a week ago. The captured territory, which was demilitarized under an agreement reached after the 1973 war, also includes Mount Hermon, which overlooks the Syrian capital, Damascus.

In a statement, Netanyahu praised the plan, which includes more than 40 million shekels ($11 million) to increase the number of residents.

There are already about 31,000 Israeli settlers spread over dozens of illegal settlements in the Golan Heights. They live alongside minority groups, including the Druze, who are mostly known as Syrians.

“Strengthening the Golan strengthens the state of Israel, and this is especially important now,” Netanyahu said. “We’re going to keep holding it, blossom and settle in.”

Al Jazeera’s Noor Odeh, reporting from Amman, Jordan, said the approval comes at what Israel considers an “opportune moment”.

Although Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights is illegal under international law, during the first term of his presidency from 2017 to 2021, the newly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump, made the United States the first country in the world to officially recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the territory.

Trump will resume his duties on January 20 after winning the November presidential elections in the United States.

“Netanyahu is using this moment to announce more settlement activities to consolidate the occupation and make it permanent,” Odeh said. “Like he did in the occupied West Bank: land grabs, settlements, permanent occupation.”

Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s office said he was discussing the issue The situation in Syria during a phone call with Trump on Saturday. He also discussed efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

“We have no interest in a conflict with Syria,” Netanyahu said, despite Israel launching hundreds of airstrikes on Syrian territory since opposition groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) moved to oust Assad and form a transitional government.

According to him, the attacks are aimed at “preventing potential threats from Syria and preventing the capture of terrorist elements close to our border.”

On Sunday, Saudi Arabia was among the first to condemn Israel’s new plan to increase the number of settlers, while accusing Israeli leaders of sabotaging Syria’s fledgling transition.