Over 2,100 West Bank settlement housing units advance in planning process |
The construction of 2,162 housing units in three West Bank settlements was approved Wednesday by the Higher Planning Council of the Civil Administration, a department of the Defense Ministry, in a move that far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said “solidifies” Israel’s hold of the territory.
The committee approved 1,006 units for Gvaot in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank, south of Jerusalem, in one of the most important stages of the planning process, which will massively expand the settlement — where several dozen families currently live — and create homes for thousands of new residents.
Gvaot was established in 1997 as a neighborhood of existing settlement Alon Shvut, even though it lies some 3 kilometers (2 miles) northwest of Alon Shvut, in order to bypass the need for cabinet authorization of a new settlement.
The government formally authorized Gvaot as a new settlement in March 2025.
The Higher Planning Committee also approved 922 units for the settlement of Har Bracha in the Samaria region in the northern West Bank in an early stage of the planning process, which will triple the size of the settlement, currently home to 3,500 residents.
Another 234 units were approved for Kiryat Arba in the southern West Bank, adjacent to Hebron, in the last stage of the planning process.
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