Netanyahu intensifies construction drive on West Bank

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced an additional amount of $12.9 million to speed up the construction work on two new Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the New York Times reported on Sunday.

Under this plan, hundreds of new houses will be constructed in the city of Hebron city on the West Bank and east Jerusalem's Kiryat Arba settlement. Over 7,000 new Jewish settlers will benefit from the announcement.

Revealing the plan, Netanyahu said that his government would fully assist the Jewish residents who stood heroically in the face of vicious terrorism, in an apparent reference to the two Israeli kids of Kiryat Arba killed last year.

He went on to say that the new houses in the Jewish settlements were in response to Palestinian violence, which had claimed 34 lives this year.

Reacting to the announcement, US State Department spokesman John Kirby criticized the decision of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling it a move "fundamentally undermining the prospects for a two-state solution."