JERUSALEM - As a "renters revolt" by young Israelis over steep housing prices grows, the government on Monday unveiled plans to build some 7,000 housing units nationwide, with more than 300 of them scheduled for two West Bank settlements.

The Construction and Housing Ministry's tender calls for adding 7,000 "affordable housing units" in areas outside central coastal Israel, as well as 294 in the West Bank community of Beitar Illit south of Jerusalem, and 42 in Karnei Shomron, in the northern West Bank, according to Israel Radio.

The tender includes smaller urban areas within Israel such as Tiberias, coastal Ashkelon and a number of smaller municipalities and development towns scattered from the upper Galilee down to the Negev Desert.

"The supply will surpass the demand, we are on the right track, thereby cutting the ongoing shortage," Construction and Housing Minister Ariel Attias said, according to The Jerusalem Post.

A central Tel Aviv "camp-in" protest by young couples and students who contend that they are unable to afford what they say is steeply overpriced housing is spreading to other major cities and towns throughout the country.

The protest, which started last Thursday, was the idea of Daphni Leef, who was evicted from her apartment when it was set to undergo a luxury renovation.

Leef sent a message to some friends that she was bringing a tent to Rothschild, and from there the initiative rolled on. One of those friends is 35-year-old Regev Contes, who told Xinhua that they spent a week organizing the event and spreading the word via social networking sites.

He said that people from across the country have replied to the call. While most of the protesters are young students or professionals, they also include the elderly, many of whom live on fixed pensions, or other small incomes.

Using himself as an example, Contes said that, despite working as a film director, lecturing at a university, and writing for a newspaper; he still finds it hard to make ends meet.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that in coming weeks the government would submit two bills containing what he called "historic" legislation "that the State of Israel has been awaiting and hoping for because only together will it be possible to bring about a genuine start of the housing solution."

Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, about two dozen university students on Monday handed out sleeping bags to Knesset parliament members, to alert the lawmakers to their plight.

Organizers said they would set up a camp across from the Knesset similar to that in Tel Aviv, Beersheba, and elsewhere.