Israel's security cabinet approved a budget of 1.3 billion shekels ($434 ‌million) for establishing 34 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, right-wing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday, adding to tensions over territory widely viewed as central to a potential Palestinian state.

U.N. bodies, Palestinians, and most countries ‌view the settlements as illegal under international conventions — a stance disputed ​by Israel — and a primary obstacle to peace.

Smotrich, who has long opposed Palestinian statehood, is head of ⁠the Religious Zionism party that draws much of its support from ​settlements and is running in the upcoming legislative election on October 27.

The ⁠planned settlements would bring the total established under his four-year tenure to 103.

Smotrich said another 1.075 billion shekels would be approved to pave roads to ‌the new settlements. Last month, government ministers referred the settlement ​funding plan to the ‌security cabinet.

Smotrich called the cabinet's decision historic and a "day of celebration for Israel and settlements," ‌thanking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his support.

Opinion polls point to Netanyahu losing in the October election.

"We are strengthening the security ⁠of the State of Israel, killing ‌the idea of ⁠establishing a terrorist state in the heart of the country, and strengthening our hold ⁠on ⁠the homeland in Judea and Samaria," Smotrich said in a statement, using the biblical term for ‌the West Bank.

There has been a rise in settler violence in recent months against Palestinians and their property.

About 700,000 Israeli settlers live among ‌2.7 million Palestinians ​in the West Bank ‌and East Jerusalem.

Israel has not extended sovereignty to the occupied West Bank, while refuting international objections to the settlements ​and arguing that it is a disputed territory where Jews have lived for thousands of years.