Israel has issued a tender for the construction of around a thousand new homes in the occupied West Bank, reports the Israeli peace organization Peace Now.
If the construction goes ahead, it will mean a 40 percent increase in the population of the Efrat settlement. It will also block development in the nearby Palestinian city of Bethlehem.
According to Hagit Ofran at Peace Now, construction will be able to begin after the contracting and approval process is completed, which could take at least a year.
Israel has occupied the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem since the Six-Day War in 1967.
Over half a million settlers with Israeli citizenship live in the occupied West Bank, which is home to approximately 3 million Palestinians.