Israel new settlement plan

US 'strongly condemns' Israel over new settlement plan

The White House and state department said plans for 300 new homes and an industrial zone were diminishing prospects for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel insisted fewer than 100 homes had been approved.

Its foreign ministry said the new homes would be built within the area of an existing settlement.

About 570,000 Israelis live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.