OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israel has invited tenders for more than 2,500 new settler homes in annexed east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, authorities said Wednesday, shortly before Joe Biden was sworn in as US president.

On Sunday, Israel approved 780 new settler homes in the West Bank ahead of a March general election in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to face a fierce challenge from the right from pro-settler candidate Gideon Saar. The Israel Land Authority (ILA) confirmed Wednesday that the government had invited tenders for a further 2,112 units in the West Bank and 460 in east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians hope to make the capital of a future state.

The announcement came after the non-governmental organisation Peace Now reported the move, accusing the government of a “mad scramble to promote as much settlement activity as possible until the last minutes before the change of the administration in Washington”. “By doing so, Netanyahu is signalling to the incoming president that he has no intention of giving the new chapter in US-Israel relations even one day of grace, nor serious thought to how to plausibly resolve our conflict with the Palestinians,” Peace Now said in a statement.