The Israeli government approved on Sunday a 13 million U.S. dollars plan to assist Jewish settlements in the West Bank following two deadly attacks, according to the Prime Minister's Office.

Housing Minister Uri Ariel from the right-wing Jewish Home party, which is backed by Jewish settlers, promoted the plan in recent weeks.

The plan was promoted in the past two weeks after two Israelis were killed in stabbing and shooting attacks by Palestinians in the Jewish settlements of Kiryat Arba and the southern Hebron hills in the West Bank.

Among others, it includes additional funds for education and welfare, mental care facilities, sports facilities and infrastructure in the Jewish settlements in Kiryat Arba and Hebron.

These two recent attacks were the latest deadliest attacks in a 10-month wave of violence which claimed the lives of 34 Israelis and 215 Palestinians.

Israel occupied the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip territories during the 1967 Mideast War. The international community deems the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as illegal, and a hindrance to a two-state peace solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israeli leaders greenlighted the construction of 42 housing units in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba in the southern West Bank last week, following the deadly attack there, in which 13-year-old Hallel Yaffa Ariel was killed by a Palestinian.

Israel blames the Palestinian Authority for incitement to violence amid the wave of unrest, whereas the Palestinians charge it is the result of 49 years of Israeli occupation and the dim prospects of resuming peace talks and establishing a Palestinian state, in accordance with the two-state solution. Endit

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