The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) condemned Israel’s plan to construct 3,500 new homes in West Bank settlements, its foreign ministry said on Friday.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan strongly condemns the decision to build 3,500 new bases in the West Bank of Palestine by the Zionist invaders, and this heinous action is another blatant violation in the series of occupation of Palestinian lands. We strongly call for its prevention,” the ministry said in a statement.

“IEA-MoFA deems the Palestinian territory as the legal land of the people of Palestine. Such cruel actions and the ongoing genocide in Gaza by the Zionist colonisers have irreparable consequences and the cause of the instability in the region,” the statement added.

It called on the international community and in particular the Islamic countries to “take urgent measures to prevent this catastrophe and fulfill their responsibility thereof so that the oppressed people of Palestine may not be killed, and prevent land usurpation.”

An Israeli settlement-planning body has advanced permits for 3,500 new homes in West Bank settlements near Jerusalem, according to statements by Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Orit Strock.

The homes are expected to be built in the Israeli settlements of Maale Adumim, Kedar, and Efrat, which are all close to Jerusalem, The Times of Israel reported on Wednesday.

The occupied West Bank is part of territories captured by Israel during the 1967 Middle East war. Palestinians seek statehood in the region.