According to the daily newspaper Haaretz, a special grant of 340 million shekels ($90 million) for West Bank settlements has been included in the 2015-2016 state budget that was approved by the government early Thursday morning, August 6.

The neo-liberal biennial budget, which will be presented to the Knesset in the coming months, effectively spans 18 fiscal months. The budget for 2015 was set at $86.35 billion while that for 2016 is $89.96 billion. Regarding the defense budget, the Finance Ministry has appropriated $15 billion for defense spending, but Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot both believe that amount is insufficient.