Tel Aviv allocates $20M to secure settlement outposts in West Bank

The Israeli government approved on Sunday the transfer of 75 million shekels ($20 million) to secure illegal settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank.

In recent weeks, several Israeli officials have criticized the ongoing transfer of funds to settlements during times of war.

"The lives of the settlers are no less valuable ... The campaign against defending the settlers in the outposts, who are now at the front of the fighting, is a harsh campaign," Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as saying.

Smotrich, who is also a settler, added: "There is a minimum level of responsibility by the state. Heroic settlers deserve the minimum of security at home and much more."

Settlement outposts are small settlements established on Palestinian territories without the approval of the Israeli government.

There are 144 settlement outposts in the West Bank and successive Israeli governments have established 146 more settlements in the West Bank, inhabited by over 470,000 settlers, according to the Israeli movement Peace Now.