On Wednesday (July 15, 2026), Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that the Security Cabinet had approved the establishment of a new settlement south of Jenin. The settlement, to be known as “Sha-Nur East,” is planned for the site of a former IDF Paratroopers Brigade base, adjacent to the Palestinian village of Sanur.
This brings the total number of new settlements approved by the current government to 104. Of these, 16 are formerly designated “neighborhoods” of existing settlements that have now been granted independent settlement status; 50 are unauthorized outposts that will be legalized as independent settlements; and 38 are entirely new settlements.
To facilitate the establishment of the new settlements through a “planning bypass” process that would allow facts to be created on the ground without going through the standard statutory planning procedures, the Security Cabinet decided on June 14, 2026, to allocate NIS 1.3 billion for the construction of caravan sites in the new settlements. At the same time, the government approved an additional NIS 112.2 million to prepare planning schemes for the new settlements. In addition, last March the government allocated a further NIS 1.075 billion for the construction of access roads to the new settlements (in addition to the NIS 7 billion previously allocated for intercity roads serving existing settlements).
Peace Now: “The government has gone into overdrive ahead of the elections, racing to create as many facts on the ground as possible and leave scorched earth behind. With the stroke of a pen, it has decided to pour NIS 2.5 billion into establishing more and more settlements that will deepen the political and security abyss into which Israel is descending. By now it is clear to everyone—and the IDF has emphasized this repeatedly—that establishing settlements harms security, places an extraordinary burden on the military, and undermines the possibility of resolving the conflict and achieving any future security and peace.”
IDF Chief of Staff Warns: Settlement Expansion Will Harm Security
As early as February 2023, shortly after the current government took office, the government approved the establishment of the settlement of Tel Zion, which until then had been considered a “neighborhood” of the settlement of Kochav Ya’akov. The government subsequently adopted a decision authorizing the Security Cabinet—whose deliberations and decisions are classified—to approve the establishment of new settlements on the government’s behalf, thereby shielding such decisions from public scrutiny. Since 2023, the Security Cabinet has approved an additional 103 settlements.
It is worth recalling that the Security Cabinet meeting in March 2026, at which 34 new settlements were approved, became known as the IDF Chief of Staff’s “red flags” meeting. According to media reports, during that meeting IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir warned that establishing additional settlements could overwhelm the IDF to the point that it would be unable to fulfill its missions, given the growing burden of protecting hundreds of settlements and new outposts. Reports further indicated that, for this reason, the Chief of Staff opposed the plan to establish additional settlements.
Some of the settlements were existing as "Neighborhoods" of other settlements and received an a status as independent settlement, some of the settlements were illegal outposts that started their legalization process as independent settlements and some are new settlements.