Far-right Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich announced approval for 3,401 new homes in the controversial E1 area project in the occupied West Bank.

Standing at the site of the planned settlement in Maale Adumim on Thursday, Smotrich, a settler himself, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump had agreed to the revival of the E1 development, though there was no immediate confirmation from either.

Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that work would start on a long-delayed settlement that would divide the West Bank and cut it

The E1 settlement project would effectively make it impossible to create a future Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem. | ITV National News

"The plan is the 'final nail in the coffin' for the concept of a Palestinian state," Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich remarked.

Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said work would start on a long-delayed settlement that would divide the West Bank and cut if off from East Jerusalem, a move his office declared would "bury" the idea of a Palestinian state.

An Israeli settlement is made up of housing units built for Jewish Israelis on land captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war, primarily in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The land is home to Palestinians who seek a future independent state.