Palestinian officials have condemned a dramatic new settlement drive by Israel in the occupied West Bank which includes retroactively authorising three outposts. The move is set to further stoke tensions in the territory which has seen a surge in violence since the war in Gaza began on 7 October.

An Israeli anti-settlement monitoring group says the government approved plans for over 5,000 new homes in settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Israel has approved its largest land seizure in the occupied West Bank in more than three decades, a settlement tracking group said Wednesday. The decision was denounced by activists, who said it would further increase tensions brought on by the war in Gaza and dash hopes for a Palestinian state and a two-state solution for peace.

A Hezbollah-Israel war could metastasize into a larger regional conflict that could dwarf the current fighting and draw in Iran and the United States.

Hezbollah's rockets and drones sparked a number of fires in northern Israel The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah has launched more than 200 rockets and attack drones into northern Israel, in response to the killing of one of its senior commanders.

Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Thursday it launched more than 200 rockets and a swarm of drones at 10 Israeli military sites in response to the killing of one of the Iran-aligned group's top commanders in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.