Israeli cities in this list are the cities in Israel, and Israeli settlements with city status in the occupied West Bank; Jerusalem includes occupied East Jerusalem. The list is based on the current index of the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Within Israel's system of local government, an urban municipality can be granted a city council by the Israeli Interior Ministry when its population exceeds 20,000. The term "city" does not generally refer to local councils or urban agglomerations, even though a defined city often contains only a small portion of an urban area or metropolitan area's population.