Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich approved the construction of 3,600 settlement units in the new "Mishmar Yehuda" settlement east of occupied Jerusalem.

According to Israel’s Channel 7, this new settlement "puts an end to the possibility of a viable Palestinian state and separates the southern West Bank from its central region."

On December 11, the Israeli mini-cabinet ("the Knesset Cabinet") approved a plan to legalize 19 settlements in the West Bank.