A new generation of Israeli settlers has returned to Kadim, a settlement in the occupied West Bank that was closed two decades ago, amid growing international opposition to Israel’s settlement expansion.

Thirty “pioneer families” arrived at the settlement on Thursday from Tel Aviv, according to the regional settlers’ council. The move comes as Jewish nationalism has intensified under Israel’s current government.

The settlers travelled in small groups, with some receiving military escorts as they passed Palestinian villages and farmland. Israeli flags were displayed on vehicles, while some families brought trailers carrying furniture, bedding and construction materials.

Israel’s government has overturned a 20-year ban on Jewish settlements in areas around Jenin, raising concerns among Palestinian residents about further settlement expansion.

Israeli settlements and settler outposts in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law. Outposts are also illegal under Israeli law, although some receive government services and financial support.

At the opening ceremony, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich described the return to Kadim as a correction of what he called the “crime of expulsion” from northern Samaria, using the biblical term for the northern West Bank.

The re-establishment of Kadim is expected to further increase tensions between Israeli settlers and Palestinian communities and draw additional international criticism over settlement activity in the occupied West Bank.