Ayelet Shaked
Ayelet ShakedYonatan Sindel/Flash90

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked and Defense Minister Benny Gantz will today (Sunday) hold a discussion on the connection of the 'young settlements' in Judea and Samaria to the water and electricity grids.

According to a preliminary mapping conducted by the Defense Ministry, there are dozens of Israeli outposts and settlements, the bulk of the 'young settlements,' that may meet the appropriate criteria that will allow them to be connected to water and electricity.

Sources involved in the matter said that in order to "justify" the connection of the infrastructure to Jewish outposts in Judea and Samaria, and in order to obtain the consent of the Americans, Palestinian Authority outposts that may also be regulated and connected to the water and electricity grids in the future.

Gantz has not yet publicly revealed his position on the issue of the 'young settlements.' It is believed that he will not oppose the regulation of those communities if the Defense Ministry legal advisers do not oppose it.

In December 2020, former Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevich said that "Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister MK Benny Gantz supports the regulation of young settlements."