Israeli planning authorities have approved the advancement of more than 2,000 housing units in communities across Judea and Samaria.
The Supreme Planning Council of the Israeli Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration advanced the plans for 2,162 housing units as part of what Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich described as a broader effort to strengthen Jerusalem’s hold on the territory, Channel 14 News reported on Thursday.
“We continue to build the Land of Israel in practice,” said Smotrich, who also serves as a minister in the Defense Ministry responsible for civilian matters in Judea and Samaria.
The approvals “are not merely planning measures,” the senior Cabinet minister stressed. “They are a national undertaking that strengthens our hold on the land, reinforces Israel’s security and establishes clear facts on the ground that prevent the creation of an Arab terror state in the heart of the country.
“We will continue to lead a broad wave of construction and regularization because this is the path to victory, security and growth,” he added.
According to the approved plans reported by the channel, 1,006 housing units will be built in Gevaot, a nascent Jewish village near the larger community of Alon Shvut in Judea’s Gush Etzion region.
The project is intended to support the development of Gevaot into an urban center and could eventually include thousands of additional housing units.
Another 922 housing units were approved in Har Bracha, a community in northern Samaria near Nablus (Shechem). In Kiryat Arba, a town adjacent to the Judea city of Hebron, plans for 234 housing units were advanced.
The government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has led an unprecedented drive to expand Israel’s control of Judea and Samaria, having approved tens and thousands of homes and dozens of new communities since being sworn in three-and-a-half years ago.
Nearly 70% of Israelis want tyhe country to extend full legal sovereignty to Judea and Samaria, according to a 2025 survey.
Fifty-eight percent of Israeli Jews believe that communities in Judea and Samaria contribute to the security of the country, according to a survey the Jewish People Policy Institute published last year.
