Netanyahu orders evacuation of some West Bank outposts, minister says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the evacuation of some West Bank outposts, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, despite his opposition to the move.

“Netanyahu gave the order to evacuate” some outposts, Smotrich said. He described the sites as unauthorized outposts built in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority. Israeli media reported the order, with Ynet saying it followed pressure from the United States.

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Netanyahu gave the order to evacuate.

The order comes after Netanyahu promised at the end of August to continue advancing settlements in the West Bank despite international pressure. Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party supports annexing the entire West Bank, and the minister presented his own settlement efforts as “a revolution” involving the construction and legalization of villages, farms, roads and thousands of homes in the occupied territory.

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a revolution

The article distinguishes between settlements established by government decision and unauthorized outposts, which often consist of a few caravans or makeshift structures. The approval and retroactive legalization of such sites have also increased in recent years. Settlement construction and expansion are considered illegal under international law, while Israel applies its own legal framework to the sites.

Apart from occupied and annexed East Jerusalem, nearly three million Palestinians live in the West Bank alongside more than 500,000 Israeli settlers. Violence has surged since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, with near-daily settler attacks and periodic raids on Palestinian villages. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, visiting the West Bank in support of Palestinian Americans targeted by settler attacks, said: “Our message is clear: a crime is a crime. Those who commit them should expect severe consequences.”

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Our message is clear: a crime is a crime. Those who commit them should expect severe consequences.