Givat Hamatos Status Report – April 2026

Since the outbreak of the Gaza war, the scale of new settlements advanced in East Jerusalem exceeds that of any other period in the last three decades. In the past 2.5 years, plans for 10 major new settlements with over 20,000 housing units have advanced in East Jerusalem alone, with one currently under construction. Givat Hamatos–once a longstanding international redline due to its ramifications on the two-state framework–is the first new major settlement to be constructed in East Jerusalem in over 20 years. The new settlement, together with the existing Har Homa and Gilo settlements and the recently approved Lower Aqueduct plan, will create a settlement wedge along the southern flank and detach East Jerusalem from Bethlehem and the southern West Bank. It will likewise complete the encirclement of Beit Safafa with Israeli settlements, which will further constrict its growth and deepen housing deprivation in the neighborhood.