(VOVworld) – Israel set a 10-year record for the number of new homes under construction in Jewish settlements on the Israeli-occupied West Bank, rising 40 per cent last year, the anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now said on Monday.

Workers at a building in the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim. (Photo: Bloomberg)

Peace Now said that the construction of 3,100 “residential units” began last year in West Bank settlements, while some 4,500 tenders for construction there and in the east Jerusalem settlement districts were launched. It added that the monthly average for new homes in settlements was 460, and that 66 construction projects had been launched to build over 10,000 homes in 41 settlements during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s third government which took office in March, 2013. Israel has cut off electricity to 2 Palestinian cities in the West Bank, due to arguments over electricity bill repayments.