European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on 14 August that Israel’s decision to advance the long-delayed E1 settlement plan “further undermines the two-state solution while being a breach of international law.” The bloc urged Israeli authorities to halt construction of the project, which would link the Maale Adumim settlement to Jerusalem and, according to critics, slice the occupied West Bank into disconnected enclaves. The condemnation was echoed on 15 August by the U.N. human rights office, which called the plan illegal under international law and warned it could forcibly displace Palestinians living in the area—an act the office said would amount to a war crime. The U.N. said the initiative, envisaging thousands of new homes, would cement the transfer of Israel’s civilian population into occupied territory. Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has vowed to press ahead with the project, saying it would "bury" prospects for a Palestinian state. About 700,000 Israeli settlers already live among an estimated 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas most governments view as occupied territory and central to any future Palestinian state.