Israel approves 19 new settlements in occupied West Bank, bringing total to 210
Israel's security cabinet approved 19 new settlements in the West Bank, raising the total to 210 and increasing settlements by nearly 50% under the current government.
December 21, 2025 - 08:49 PM ET • 2 min read
Israel's security cabinet approved the establishment of 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, according to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who proposed the measure alongside Defence Minister Israel Katz.
The approval brings the total number of newly authorized settlements over the past few years to 69, the highest number on record. With this decision, the total number of settlements in the West Bank has risen to 210, according to Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group. In 2022, there were 141 settlements across the West Bank, meaning the current government has increased the number by nearly 50% during its tenure.
Among the 19 newly approved settlements are Kadim and Ganim, two communities that were evacuated in 2005 during Israel's disengagement plan from the Gaza Strip. According to Peace Now, the newly approved settlements include areas where Israel had not previously established a presence, as well as sites in densely populated Palestinian areas and locations where Palestinian communities have been expelled.
Smotrich, an ultranationalist and far-right figure who oversees the Administration for Settlement Affairs (a government entity established in 2023 to manage civilian matters in West Bank settlements) stated that the decision was aimed at blocking the establishment of a Palestinian state. "We will continue to develop, build, and settle the land of our ancestral heritage, with faith in the justice of our way," Smotrich said in a statement. "On the ground, we are blocking the creation of a terrorist Palestinian state."
Regarding the two reinstated settlements, Smotrich said: "After twenty years, we are correcting a painful injustice by returning Ganim and Kadim to the map of settlements."
Settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law. The approval comes as the United States is pushing Israel and Hamas to advance the second phase of a Gaza ceasefire agreement, which took effect in October. The U.S.-brokered plan calls for a possible "pathway" to a Palestinian state.
Saudi Arabia condemned the move. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has stated that Israel's "relentless" settlement expansion fuels tensions, restricts Palestinian access to land, and threatens the viability of a sovereign Palestinian state.
Violence in the occupied West Bank has surged since the war in Gaza began in October 2023. According to sources, approximately 750,000 Israeli settlers currently live across settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights, territories Israel has occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War.