Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered unauthorized West Bank settler outposts to be dismantled as his government faces growing scrutiny from the United States to rein in violence against Palestinians.
Netanyahu’s new directive applies to outposts built without authorization from the Israeli government, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing two people familiar with the decision.
The move marks a notable step for Netanyahu’s government, which includes staunch supporters of expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank and has granted legal status to some communities deemed illegal by the United Nations.
There are hundreds of Israeli settler outposts in the region, typically consisting of caravans housing a dozen or so people. Over 465,000 Jews reside in West Bank settlements, and 20,000 are living in illegal outposts, according to the Israel Policy Forum.
Reuters reported that Netanyahu’s decision is the direct result of criticism from the U.S., the Jewish state’s closest ally.
Netanyahu’s reported decision follows U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee denouncing Israeli settlers’ actions in the West Bank against Palestinians as acts of “terror.”
“If there are squatters that come in and put up their own flags and take possession of something that does not belong to them, if they burn a car, if they torch a mosque, if they go into someone’s home and vandalize it, paint graffiti on the walls, that’s a criminal act. But it extends beyond a criminal act. It’s an act of terror,” Huckabee said during a visit to the village of Turmus Ayya, where residents have reported frequent settler attacks over the past year.
Huckabee has previously spoken out against settler violence against Palestinians. Shortly after he first discussed the topic, residents of the West Bank village of Bazariya said Israeli settlers set fire to a mosque and spray-painted a message on a wall reading “Huckabee regards from the terrorists” in Hebrew.
MIKE HUCKABEE CONDEMNS VIOLENT ISRAELI SETTLERS AS ‘TERRORISTS’ IN WEST BANK VISIT
Settler violence in the West Bank has increased since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. Settler attacks against Palestinians exceeded 1,800 incidents in 2025, according to the U.N.
More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 2023, according to Palestinian health authorities, a figure that includes those killed by Israeli settlers, while dozens of Israelis have also been killed.