Israeli settlements are Jewish-only communities built illegally on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
These settlements often look like ordinary suburbs: uniform townhouses, red-tiled roofs, and neat lawns, perched atop hills that give them a commanding view of the Palestinian towns and villages carved up to make room for them.
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In this visual explainer, Al Jazeera maps the spread of illegal Israeli settlements and outposts, and the settler pogroms accompanying them, now at their highest levels on record.
The spread of Israeli settlements and outposts
Settlements predate the creation of Israel in ۱۹۴۸, but their number and scale expanded dramatically after Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem in ۱۹۶۷.
Over the past six decades, the settlement network has grown from scattered hilltop outposts into a sprawling system of settlements, roads and highways binding them to each other and to Israel.
According to Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog, there are at least ۱۴۸ illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and ۱۵ in occupied East Jerusalem, ۱۶۳ in total, now home to some ۷۵۰,۰۰۰ Israelis, roughly ۱۰ percent of the country’s Jewish population.
The animation below tracks the founding of each settlement and outpost, along with their growing populations. In ۲۰۲۵ alone, nearly ۲۸,۰۰۰ housing units were advanced within existing settlements in the occupied West Bank, far more growth than new settlements or outposts added on their own.
By ۲۰۲۴, these ۱۶۳ illegal settlements were home to ۷۴۴,۷۰۰ Israeli settlers: ۵۱۱,۱۰۰ in the West Bank and ۲۳۳,۶۰۰ in East Jerusalem, alongside a record number of illegal outposts, now more than ۴۰۰, that are not officially counted but are often absorbed into recognised settlements over time, making a true tally difficult to pin down.
How outposts become settlements
Settlements are illegal under international law as they violate the Fourth Geneva Convention, which bans an occupying power from transferring its population to the area it occupies.
The United Nations Security Council, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Committee of the Red Cross, among others, have affirmed this position, most recently in the ICJ’s July ۲۰۲۴ advisory opinion.
Under Israeli law, settlements are legally sanctioned, planned, funded and built with direct government approval, ranging from small rural communities to large towns like Ariel and Maale Adumim.
Outposts are different. They are smaller communities built without formal authorisation, though many are later legalised or absorbed into existing settlements.
How settlements carve up Palestinian land
Some Israeli settlements have grown into sizable urban communities, complete with their own mayors, schools, shopping malls, medical centres and even universities.
Modi’in Illit is the largest, with ۸۹,۳۰۱ residents, followed by Beitar Illit with ۷۰,۲۵۱ and Pisgat Ze’ev with ۴۸,۴۱۹.
Like most settlements, they are linked by a dense network of roads built exclusively for settlers, many of them bypass roads that cut through Palestinian land, fragmenting communities and, backed by checkpoints and roadblocks, restricting the movement of Palestinians who live alongside them.
Nowhere is this clearer than E۱, an area east of Jerusalem planned for the expansion of Maale Adumim, which would sever East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and further fragment Palestinian territorial continuity.
In August ۲۰۲۵, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich approved more than ۳,۰۰۰ homes in the E۱ settlement project, a plan frozen for decades under international pressure, declaring the move would “bury the idea of a Palestinian state”.
The decision drew global condemnation, including from nearly ۳۰ governments and the European Commission, who called it “unacceptable and a violation of international law”.
Rising pogroms
Israeli settlers can be broadly divided into two types.
The first are largely drawn by economics: cheaper rents, subsidised mortgages, discounted land and government incentives that make housing in the illegal settlements far more affordable than in Israel proper.
The second are religious-nationalists, who believe the land was promised to them by God. This group includes the “hilltop youth”, known for establishing outposts and attacking Palestinian communities, often with the Israeli military standing by or backing them, as in the weeks-long siege of Qusra, which began in August and continues under military enforcement today.
Experts and UN officials increasingly describe these attacks as pogroms, organised, often state-backed violence against a targeted minority, a term Israeli military officers themselves have used after past incidents such as the ۲۰۲۳ attack on Huwara.
According to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), settler attacks resulting in casualties and/or property damage have risen sharply, particularly since October ۷, ۲۰۲۳.
In ۲۰۲۵, ۱,۸۳۶ such attacks were recorded, more than double the ۸۵۲ recorded in ۲۰۲۲, an average of about five attacks a day.
Since October ۷, ۲۰۲۳, ۵,۱۳۱ attacks have been recorded in total. The increase has continued into ۲۰۲۶, with ۱,۴۱۸ attacks recorded between January and July, though the year is not yet complete.
The violence and the creation of new outposts are two different aspects of settlement activity, but together they show how illegal settlement expansion is occurring not only through established communities and government planning, but also through new activity on the ground.
