Advancement of 1,517 Housing Units in the West Bank

On Wednesday, 25 February 2026, the Higher Planning Council of the Civil Administration is set to discuss plans for 1,517 housing units across the West Bank.

Of the four plans on the agenda, 1,388 units are intended to be built as a new neighborhood of the settlement Kadumim, known as Nahlath Esther. The planned neighborhood is located adjacent to the Palestinian village of Jit to the south and would physically draw Kadumim closer to the settlement of Havat Gilad, located to its southeast.  At present, several dozen housing units already exist on the site; the plan would significantly expand the area into a neighborhood intended to house thousands of residents. The plan was approved for deposit in May 2025. Since June 2023, when the requirement for approval by the Minister of Defense at each stage of settlement planning was canceled, the plan is expected to be brought for final approval within a relatively short timeframe. Including the upcoming discussion, the total number of housing units approved by the High Planning Council in 2026 stands at 2,425 units.

The shift to a weekly approval process not only normalizes construction in the territories but also accelerates it. For example, in 2025 the Higher Planning Council advanced 27,941 settlement housing units, an unprecedented record since the establishment of the settlement enterprise in the West Bank.

Settlement Plans Overview

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