Israeli cabinet met in the Jordan Valley, a largely agricultural area, to approve it legal status for an unauthorised outpost and Jewish settlement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had announced on Tuesday that he intended to annex if he wins a fifth term. Israeli cabinets have rarely held sessions in the West Bank.
Netanyahu has stepped up a bid for far-right votes two days before a closely-contested election, convening his cabinet in the occupied West Bank .
At the meeting, the government announced it had approved Netanyahu’s proposal to turn the outpost of Mevo’ot Yericho into a formal settlement – 20 years after it was established as a farming community in the Jordan Valley without state sanction.
In public remarks at the session, Netanyahu said it would be up to the government formed after Tuesday’s election to grant final approval.