The Jerusalem municipality gave final approval Thursday afternoon to 153 housing units in the Gilo neighborhood in southern Jerusalem, an area over the 1967 Green Line, where construction had been heavily restricted during the Obama administration.
Speaking with AFP, Jerusalem City Councilman and Deputy Mayor Meir Turgeman said number of building permits issued by the municipality had spiked since President Donald Trump’s inauguration last Friday.
The permits issued on Thursday included projects frozen in recent years because of pressure applied by the Obama administration on Israel, Turgeman said.
In the days since the Trump inauguration, Turgeman has promised to massively expand the number of housing units approved by the city.
"I'm going to deliver permits for thousands of homes in Jerusalem in the coming months," Turgeman said.
Specifically, Turgeman has said as many as 11,000 housing units could be approved in neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem, following eight years of limited construction.
On Sunday, city approved 566 building permits for homes in eastern Jerusalem. Two days later, the Defense Ministry approved 2,500 homes in Judea and Samaria, marking the end of the de facto building freeze on Israeli projects over the Green Line.
AFP contributed to this report