RAMALLAH: Israeli families moved into a new settlement on a mountain towering over the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the settler regional council for the area said.

“This morning, families from the Ebal founding group are transferring their equipment and moving into caravans in the new Ebal settlement, established in Samaria,” the Samaria Regional Council said, using the Biblical name for the north of the West Bank.

Excluding east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, which Israel has occ­upied since 1967, among some three million Palestinians.

All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. In a video shared by the council, a dozen Israeli settlers were seen carrying moving boxes and furniture into mobile-homes typical of new settlements.

Mount Ebal is one of the highest peaks in the West Bank. In the valley below, residents of Nablus’ Old City said they could see the settlement’s homes.

“Palestinian citizens used to go to Mount Ebal to stroll and breathe fresh air, but today they have cut off our air by encircling Nablus from all sides with settlements and attacks,” said Ghassan Daghlas, governor of the Nablus region.

He said a military camp and parts of a settlement on the other mountain near Nablus, Mount Gerizim, had already made Palestinian residents feel encircled.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2026