Legalization of 3 Outposts as New Settlements and advancement of 1,670 Housing Units

On Wednesday (9 August 2026), the Higher Planning Council will discuss plans advancing 1,670 housing units in a number of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Three of the plans are intended to legalize existing outposts. Among the plans to be advanced, three outposts will be legalized. Ein Yitav (Plan 320/6) and Ma’oz (Plan 139), will be legalized as independent settlements. A third outpost, Adi Ad, will be legalized as a neighborhood of the settlement of Amiḥai (Plan 252/2).

The planned settlement of Ein Yitav will be established adjacent to the Palestinian community of Ras Ein al-Auja, whose residents have been forcibly displaced. The planned settlement of Ma’oz is located in the northern West Bank, in the Jenin Governorate. The new neighborhood of Amiḥai involves the legalization of Adi Ad, an outpost established in 1998.

The legalization of these outposts is part of the current government’s policy to establish 104 new settlements. Peace Now – 104 new settlements Following Cabinet approval, the settlements must receive approval from the planning authorities in order to obtain detailed planning status and be formally recognized as Israeli settlements under Israeli administration.

With the upcoming discussion included, the total number of housing units advanced by the Higher Planning Council in 2026 stands at 9,972.

Settlement Plans Overview

Since November 2024, the Higher Planning Council has been holding weekly meetings to advance housing units in settlements. The shift to a weekly approval process not only normalizes settlement construction in the occupied territory but also accelerates its pace.

One of the changes made by the Netanyahu-Smotrich government in June 2023 was the elimination of the need for defense minister approval for each stage of settlement plan advancement. Previously, every construction plan in settlements required prior approval from the defense minister. In recent years, the defense minister had limited settlement plan advancements to approximately four times a year, with thousands of housing units being approved in a single session of the Higher Planning Council. In recent weeks, we have witnessed a change where the Higher Planning Council meets every week and approves several hundred housing units in each meeting. In this way, the government seeks to normalize planning in settlements and attract less public and international attention and criticism.

List of Plans Approved Since January 2026