Said Amori and Rania Abushamala
12 July 2026•Update: 12 July 2026
The Israeli military's Central Command signed an order Sunday to officially upgrade the illegal settlement of Givat Ze'ev, northwest of occupied East Jerusalem, to a city.
According to Israel's Channel 7, the decision followed a period of coordination between officials in the defense and interior ministries as part of Israeli policies to expand illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Yossi Asraf, head of the Givat Ze'ev municipality, claimed that the move would promote growth and improve services in the settlement, which is home to more than 35,000 Israeli occupiers.
The change in status is expected to expand the settlement's administrative powers and increase government funding, allowing for faster construction and urban expansion projects as well as the attraction of additional occupiers.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the declaration of Givat Ze'ev as a city was part of the government's policy to strengthen settlements and regularize their legal status.
He added that the move would reinforce a "protective wall" against the establishment of a Palestinian state.
According to the Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now, around 500,000 Israeli occupiers live in illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank, in addition to about 250,000 living in settlements in occupied East Jerusalem.
The UN has repeatedly affirmed that Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law, warning that they undermine prospects for a two-state solution.
Palestinians insist on East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, based on international resolutions that do not recognize Israel’s 1967 occupation or its 1980 annexation of the city.
