Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said he will approve plans to build more than 3,000 homes in a controversial settlement project in the occupied West Bank - a move he said will prevent the creation of a Palestinian state, Associated Press reported.

The so-called E1 project between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim settlement has been frozen for decades amid fierce opposition internationally. Building there would effectively cut off the West Bank from occupied East Jerusalem and significantly obstruct its territorial contiguity. 

"The plan will bury the idea of a Palestinian state," Smotrich said, according to Israeli media.

Settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this, according to Associated Press.