Israel’s Cabinet Set To Approve $350 Million Funding For 61 West Bank Settlements

Israel’s cabinet is set to approve a plan to fund the establishment of 61 new settlements in the West Bank, a move Axios reported and that Reuters-linked coverage described as one of the largest settlement expansion moves in decades.

“The Israeli administration approved the creation of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank at the end of last week”

Agence Media Palestine

The proposal is expected to cost more than $350 million over several years, with funding covering temporary residential compounds, public buildings, and infrastructure even before formal planning approvals are complete.

Agence Media Palestine

Israeli far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich is described as promoting the effort, and the plan is framed as being pushed through now to ensure approval before the Knesset is dissolved.

Peace Now said the cabinet vote would bypass the standard settlement planning process, and it said the settlements included in the proposal had all been approved by Netanyahu’s government over the past three years.

The draft decision described by Axios reporter Barak Ravid also places many of the settlements in “strategically sensitive” areas including along Highway 90 in the Jordan Valley and in the South Hebron Hills.

The settlement funding push is unfolding alongside Amnesty International’s accusation that Israel is running a state-led ethnic cleansing campaign in the West Bank, with Amnesty’s report titled “Erasing Anything Palestinian” and released June 10.

Amnesty Secretary General Agnès Callamard said, “What we are witnessing is deliberate, state-led annexation, in complete violation of international law,” while the Israeli Foreign Ministry dismissed the report as “false and baseless.”

Al Jazeera

Peace Now, meanwhile, said the planned cabinet vote would bypass the standard settlement planning process and would be used to “set facts on the ground” ahead of elections expected in the coming months.

Al Jazeera reported that the Israeli government allocated a first tranche of an expected $388m in new funds, including 152 million shekels ($51m) to prepare construction plans for 69 illegal settlements and outposts.

Peace Now also said the government decided to postpone a 1-billion-shekel ($338m) allocation and refer it to the Security Cabinet expected to convene on Sunday.

The sources tie the settlement expansion agenda to international backlash and sanctions, including a report that the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France and Norway imposed sanctions on networks involved in financing, enabling and carrying out settler violence against Palestinians.

“The Israeli government has allocated a first tranche of an expected $388m in new funds for the construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank”

Al Jazeera

In parallel, the Al Jazeera report said Amnesty condemned the upcoming “Great Israeli Real Estate Event” due to take place in London on Sunday, describing it as promoting the sale of properties in the occupied West Bank.

Haaretz described Democrats pressing for transparency on settlement funding in a U.S. loans program that facilitates international loans to Israel under American backing, with more than 40 Democrats signing a letter warning the Trump administration.

The Times of Israel reported that the proposal is being pushed through now to ensure funding is approved before the Knesset is dissolved, and it said the plan would allow the government to bypass the standard settlement planning process.

The Palestinian Information Center quoted Abdul Hadi Hantash saying the move “cannot be viewed as mere limited settlement expansions,” and it described the plan as part of a broader effort implemented in phases for years that could pave the way for de facto annexation.