Israel received international criticism after it announced Sunday it was seizing nearly 1,000 acres in the occupied West Bank.
Israel Defense Forces said the 988 acres in the Etzion Jewish settlement bloc near Bethlehem was "state land, on the instructions of the political echelon" by the IDF-run Civil Administration, according to a military notice obtained by NBC News.
Israel did not immediately give a reason for the land appropriation, which the anti-settlement group Peace Now said was the biggest in three decades.
The U.S. Department of State reproached Israel for its "counterproductive" decision that could setback efforts to reach a deal between Israel and the West Bank Palestinians who want to form their own state.
"We urge the government of Israel to reverse this decision," a State Department official told the station.
A similar rebuke followed from the U.K., with officials calling the seizure "ill-judged" during a time when efforts are underway to sustain a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinians in the deadly Gaza Strip war.
"Our position on settlements is clear: they are illegal under international law, present an obstacle to peace and take us further away from a two state solution at a time when negotiations to achieve this objective urgently need to be resumed," British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said according to The Jerusalem Post.
"All efforts should currently be focused on securing a durable cease-fire in Gaza and the lasting peace that the Palestinian and Israeli people deserve. We strongly urge the government of Israel to reverse this decision."
Israel's decision comes after three Jewish teenage boys were kidnapped and killed in the West Bank by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in late June. The killings sparked a two-month conflict that killed over 2,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. Israel saw 71 deaths.
About 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which has a Palestinian population of 2.4 million, according to Reuters. Israel claimed the territory during the Middle East war in 1967.
