It was announced in the Israeli government that the Planning Authority granted permits to build 3,500 housing units in West Bank settlements near Jerusalem.
The homes are scheduled to be built in the settlements of Maale Adumim and Efrat and the smaller settlement of Kedar, according to statements by settlement leaders and Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Orit Struck.
The data does not provide a breakdown for each settlement of the number of new units provided by the Supreme Planning Committee of the Civil Administration, which oversees settlement planning in the West Bank.
The council, headed by Smotrich, has not met since June due to the war in Gaza, according to reports.
Settlement leaders had pushed for it to be held in order to begin approvals for the construction of new homes in West Bank settlements.
Smotrich said in a post on the “X” platform that 18,515 homes were approved in the West Bank during the past year, which is a record number, adding: “The enemies are trying to harm us and weaken us, but we will continue to build on this land.”
Much of the international community views the settlements as “illegal under international law and a major obstacle to a potential two-state solution that envisions the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.”