A fourth meeting this month of the Higher Planning Council is scheduled to advance housing units in settlements.
On Wednesday, December 25, 2024, the Higher Planning Council will discuss the advancing of 198 housing units in three settlements across the West Bank. This meeting comes about a week after discussions to advance 286 units, two weeks after discussions to advance 227 units, and three weeks after a meeting to advance 274 units. In total, the council will have discussed advancing 985 units across the West Bank in December.
Details of Housing Unit Plans to Be Approved on December 25, 2024:
| Plan Number | Plan Status | Settlement Name | Housing Units |
| 9/10/220 | For Deposit | Givat Ze’ev | 5 |
| 1/6/126 | For Deposit | Etz Efraim | 192 |
| 2/A/4/132 | For Deposit | Alei Zahav | 1 |
| Total | 198 |
In July, the Higher Planning Council convened to approve 5,255 units. Altogether, since the beginning of 2024, the Israeli government has advanced plans for 8,720 units. With the plans to be discussed in December, the total for 2024 will reach 9,705 units.
One significant change introduced by the Netanyahu-Smotrich government in June 2023 was the elimination of the requirement for the Defense Minister’s approval at every stage of advancing settlement construction plans. Previously, every step of settlement planning required pre-approval from the Defense Minister. In recent years, the Defense Minister had limited settlement plan discussions to approximately four times a year, resulting in thousands of units being approved at once during each council meeting.
In recent weeks, there has been a noticeable shift, with the Higher Planning Council now convening weekly to approve several hundred housing units at a time. This new approach seeks to normalize settlement planning while attracting less public and international scrutiny.
