TEL AVIV, July 14, 2026 (WAFA) – Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on Tuesday the allocation of a budget of 1.3 billion shekels ($434 million) for establishing 34 new colonies in the occupied West Bank.

Smotrich described the Israeli cabinet's decision “historic” and a “day of celebration for Israel and settlements”.

“We are strengthening the security of the State of Israel, killing the idea of establishing a terrorist state in the heart of the country, and strengthening our hold on the homeland in Judea and Samaria," Smotrich said in a statement.

Israel uses the Jewish nationalist name “Judea and Samaria” to refer to the occupied West Bank to reinforce its bogus claims to the territory and to give them a veneer of historical and religious legitimacy.

There are over 700,000 Israeli colonists living in colonial settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in violation of international law.

K.F.