They quite literally are. I would encourage you to listen to the arguments put forth by the Israelis currently settling across the internationally recognized borders in the West Bank.
It is a misunderstanding that Israeli settlements are a mainly religious thing. Yes, there are ideologues for expansion who believe in a God-given right to that land and they make a lot of noise and appeal to (some) religious voters. However, a lot of the political support for settlements is based not on religion, but on the idea that Israel is too narrow in its current borders to be easily defended in the long term, so it supposedly has to take the West Bank.
Also, the actual residents of settlements are often non-religious or even outright anti-religious Israelis who were simply priced out of homeowning in Israel proper. There are entire streets in settlements inhabited by families who immigrated from the former USSR for better economic prospects on the basis of Jewish ancestry, but who have absolutely no attachment to Judaism the religion, and they certainly aren’t going to claim a Torah-granted right to anything.
