Yesterday, Sunday, the Israeli government approved the allocation of 75 million shekels ($20 million) to secure illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank, in conjunction with the campaign of raids and arrests it launches throughout the West Bank, and the violent aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip.
At its weekly meeting yesterday, the Israeli government approved Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s proposal to allocate 75 million shekels for the security aspects of the illegal settlements in the West Bank, which are known as “young settlements,” according to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
Recently, many Israeli officials have faced criticism for continuing to allocate funds to settlement outposts during the war.
The term “settlement outposts” refers to small settlements established by settlers on Palestinian land without official approval from the Israeli government.
Settlements in the West Bank
The newspaper quoted Smotrich as saying during the government meeting, “The lives of residents in the settlements have value, and the campaign against them during this period – especially since they are prominently participating in the fighting – is a cruel and sad campaign.”
Smotrich, who is also a settler, added, “There is a minimum level of state responsibility. The heroic settlers deserve a minimum of security in their homes, and much more.”
The Israeli “Peace Now” movement announced that there are 144 settlements in the West Bank.
In addition to these settlements, successive Israeli governments have established 146 settlements in the West Bank, where more than 470,000 settlers live, according to Peace Now data.
The Israeli aggression on Gaza
This decision comes as the aggression against Gaza enters its 80th day, as the occupation army continues its intense and unprecedented aggression against several areas in the Gaza Strip, and a military helicopter participated in bombing areas in Jabalia.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s correspondent reported that the bodies of the martyrs were piled up in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in the middle of the Gaza Strip.
This comes in the context of continuing confrontations between Israel and the resistance factions, as the Al-Quds Brigades announced that they had bombed a position of Israeli military vehicles in the Juhr al-Dik area with a barrage of mortar shells.
For its part, the Israeli army announced on Monday morning the killing of two soldiers in last night’s battles, bringing the total number of soldiers and officers killed since the beginning of the war to 489, including 162 killed since the start of the occupation’s ground incursion into Gaza, according to occupation army data.
As of yesterday, Sunday, the war resulted in the death of 20,424 Palestinians and the injury of 54,36 others, most of them children and women. This war also caused massive destruction of infrastructure and created an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.