Giv'at Shmuel (Hebrew: גִּבְעַת שְׁמוּאֵל‎, English: Samuel Hill) is a city in the Tel Aviv district, Israel, and is surrounded by the major cities Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak, Kiryat Ono and Petah Tikva. It is located in Gush Dan and has a population of about 18,500 people (end of 2005). The city is named after the Romanian Zionist leader Samuel Pineles, the founder and president of the Zionist Congress in Focsani and the Vice-President of the First Zionist Congress in Basel. It has recently undergone a major expansion and doubled its population from 1998 to 2005. On November 5, 2007, the Israeli Minister of Interior accepted a committee recommendation to change the municipal status of Giv'at Shmuel to 'city'.