Dozens of Palestinian refugees sheltered in camps across Syria have joined rallies staged in protest at the announcement made by the US President Donald Trump’s administration that it no longer considers Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories as inconsistent with international law.

According to the Action Group for Palestinians of Syria (AGPS), a number of refugees maintained vigils denouncing the ceaseless human rights violations committed by Israel.

The refugees held the Israeli occupation authorities accountable for the death of Palestinian prisoner Sami Abu Diyak, who lost his battle with cancer in Israeli jails.

AGPS added that Palestinians taking refuge in camps set up in Latakia, Hums, AlRamadan, Khan Dannun, and Khan Eshieh waved Palestinian flags and yelled slogans condemning Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people and the US one-sided position.

Last week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the administration of President Donald Trump will no longer abide by a 1978 State Department legal opinion that the settlements were "inconsistent with international law".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the US announcement "rights a historical wrong".

More than 600,000 Israelis currently live in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Some three million Palestinians live there.

Israel’s policy of settling its population in occupied Palestinian territory and displacing the local population contravenes fundamental rules of international humanitarian law.

Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.