Planning and Building Law (Amendment No. 150 and Temporary Provision - Swords of Iron), 5784-2023

The law allows fast construction of temporary housing sites for evacuees from the Gaza border area, as part of dealing with the Swords of Iron war. The interior minister may order such a site built without a building permit. If there is no approved town plan for the area, the minister can approve the site without a plan, provided the district planner believes the works can reasonably be regularized in a future plan and the local authority head was given a chance to state their position. Such an order expires if no plan regularizing the works is filed within two years of the order, if no decision to approve the plan is made within three and a half years, or if the plan does not take effect within five years. The interior minister can extend these deadlines. If the order expires without a regularizing plan being approved, whoever is responsible for the works must restore the site to its previous state. The number of orders for sites in areas that do not match approved or deposited town plans will not exceed 12, unless the interior minister, with the approval of the Knesset Interior and Environmental Protection Committee, raises the number. The law also widens the option of building toilets and showers in safe rooms in confrontation areas to cover areas near the border with Syria. The law sets further rules on building the sites, such as a maximum area of 500 dunams, the number of housing units, permitted uses, who may carry out the works, and conditions on fitting the site to existing or future town plans. It also defines what counts as a "confrontation area" and a "special emergency". The law also lets the interior minister postpone by order the end of the works period by up to six months, and extend the order's validity. If significant works have not started within half a year of the start date, the order expires. The law does not apply to nature reserves, national parks, memorial sites, national sites, forests or coastal areas, unless an order states otherwise.

Source: חוק - פרסום ברשומות