Israeli Occupation Army Facilitates Expansion of Settlement Outposts and Pastoral Farms into ‘Areas B’

Settlement Weekly Report 18 – 24 July, 2026
By: Madeeha Al-A’raj

The ‘National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements stated in its latest weekly report , that the Israeli Occupation State has repeatedly disregarded the agreements it signed with the Palestinian side, despite the profound injustice these agreements imposed on the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights. Under the Interim Agreement, the West Bank was divided into three areas, (A), (B), and (C), with each area governed by specific administrative and security arrangements. In Area (B), Palestinians were granted full administrative and civil authority, while responsibility for internal security and public order was to be exercised through shared powers in accordance with the agreed-upon arrangements. Yet, in practice, the occupying state has continued to undermine these arrangements, encroach upon Palestinian-administered areas, and impose measures that further erode the-limit-ed authorities established under the agreement.
However, the occupation governments, especially the Netanyahu-Smotrich and Ben Gvir government, put that aside and unleashed herds of settlers under the protection of the occupation army to invade this area. Over the past two and a half years, settlers have established at least 21 settlement outposts in Area B of the West Bank, while officials in the Israeli army and government claim to dismantle the outposts, this was just throwing dust in the eyes. In fact, the outposts continue to multiply and expand, and some of them have become inhabited by families, others include Jewish synagogues, and in some of them a coffee cart is installed to serve visitors who arrive at the site.
Israel attempted to conceal this phenomenon, but human rights centers and Israeli media outlets first revealed, a year and a half ago, the establishment of new settlement outposts in Area B. This phenomenon has not ceased since then-;- on the contrary, it has continued to grow and expand. Outposts established during 2024 remain in place, and many have expanded with the addition of buildings and settlers.
The development undermines one of the fundamental principles of the Oslo Interim Agreement, under which this area falls under full Palestinian civil jurisdiction, including planning and building authority. Several Israeli media outlets reported that the Prime Minister of the occupying state, Benjamin Netanyahu, is fully aware of all this and claims before international public opinion that he has ordered the evacuation of these settlement outposts. Despite this, the outposts continue to spread and expand year after year.
At the end of 2024, Peace Now team for watching settlement documented 7 new outposts established in Area B, the first such outposts since the signing of the Oslo Accords. Since then, these outposts have expanded, and many more have been established. At least 5 new outposts have been established in the agreed-upon protected area east and south of Bethlehem, an area that has become a target of efforts by the Israeli government and settlers to displace the Palestinian presence. Additional outposts have also been established in the Ramallah and Bireh Governorate, in the South Hebron Hills, in the Nablus Governorate, and east of Bethlehem, Hebron.
The settlement outposts didn’t have such a spread in Area B. In previous years, settlers established at least 3 settlement outposts that penetrated Area B after building them in Area C: Kumi Ori near Yitzhar, Maale Rehoboam east of Bethlehem, and Havat Gilad west of Nablus. In the cases, the Civil Administration would demolish buildings built within the area after lengthy legal procedures. The matter changed completely with the current settler government, and this was accompanied by displacement of Palestinian citizens in the seam areas.
Scores of homes were demolished and a number of Palestinian residential complexes were abandoned as a result of ongoing settler violence and ongoing pressure. In some cases, settlers later moved into abandoned Palestinian homes. The establishment of these new settlement outposts is not-limit-ed to merely placing caravans, but is accompanied by the construction of new access roads, intensive livestock grazing, the seizure of water sources, and the displacement of Palestinian herder communities from large areas.
The Peace Now Movement highlighted this danger, which threatens Palestinians in this area. In its latest report, the movement explained, ‘the establishment of settlement outposts deep within Area B demonstrates the government s expansionist agenda and its attempt to weaken the Palestinian Authority.
In addition to its extensive control over Area C, the government is allowing settlers to extend their influence into areas that were transferred to Palestinian civil jurisdiction under the Oslo Accords. The continued expansion of these outposts, even after the Prime Minister publicly stated the need to evacuate them, shows that the state is, in practice, violating the agreements it signed and fueling unprecedented tensions with the Palestinian people.’
The settlement outposts are the closest to the Palestinian communities ‘villages and towns in the West Bank countryside’ and are spread across a large number of governorates as follows: Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate:´-or-Nahman on the lands of Turmusaya/Al Mughair, Oranim Farm ‘Ofra’ on the lands of Ramon Givat Oz Meir/Yair on the lands of Deir Dibwan, Emek Shilo Farm on the lands of Turmusaya, Kfar Tarfun on the lands of Atara Beitlou - Benjamin Beitello on the lands of Beitello, and in the Nablus Governorate:
And Tel Talpiot (Mount Ein Aina) on the lands of the town of Qasra, Nahalat Haniva on the lands of Qasra as well, Mavo Qana and Tzon Eliezer on the lands of Asira al-Qibliya, Rehoboam east on the lands of Qabalan, as well as Yitidot south on the lands of Amatin in the Qalqilia and Givat Netzah Governorate. Shmuel on the lands of Khirbet Abu Salah in the Tubas Governorate, the Ora Israel outpost on the lands of the city of Salfit in the Salfeet Governorate, and Givat Sebastia on the lands of Ramein in the Tulkarm Governorate.
In its destructive settlement activities, the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission revealed last Sunday that the Israeli army had issued several military orders to seize land under the guise of military purposes, but with the true aim of expanding settlements. The army issued a new military order to seize 16.5 dunams of land south of Nablus, with the goal of constructing a road linking the settlement of Migdalim and the outpost of Esh Kodesh.
According to the Palestinian News Agency - WAFA, Military order n. 42/26 authorizes the seizure of 12,652 dunams of land belonging to the town of Qusra, south of Nablus, under the pretext of “military purposes’, for the construction of a 2,532-meter-long settlement road. The order is set to remain in effect until the end of 2028. The Palestinian Authority confirmed that this order is part of the increasing use of military orders to develop settlement infrastructure, thereby strengthening the connection between settlements and outposts and imposing new realities on the ground that facilitate settlement expansion and tighten control over Palestinian land.
Maps attached to the military order show that the planned road doesn’t serve an urgent military need, but rather effectively connects the settlement of Migdalim with the outpost of Esh Kodesh. It reinforces the geographical contiguity between settlement blocs and consolidates their expansion at the expense of Palestinian land, in line with the occupation s policy of transforming settlement outposts into connected components of the settlement road network, paving the way for their legalization. And integrating them into existing settlement blocs along with imposing additional restrictions on the movement of Palestinian citizens and their access to their lands.
In addition to land confiscation orders aimed at expanding the settlement road network and connecting settlements and outposts in the West Bank, the occupation authorities and the so-called ‘Israel Land Authority’ intend to issue a new tender for the implementation of a ‘settlement project’ in the Ariel settlement, on land belonging to the Salfeet Governorate. This project aims to construct 342 settlement units in a multi-story building, which was previously approved by the occupation authorities on May 25, 2025.
According to the Palestinian Authority, the occupation authorities published 12 settlement tenders during the first half of 2026, distributed among residential, commercial, industrial, tourism, and service projects. These tenders included the construction of 1,138 settlement units in five main settlements: Ariel (342 units), Ma ale Adumim (east of Jerusalem - 581 units), Amona (Salfit - 21 units), and Ganei Modi in (Ramallah - 194 units’.
In addition to land confiscation orders aimed at expanding the settlement road network and connecting settlements and outposts in the West Bank, the occupation authorities and the so-called ‘Israel Land Authority’ intend to issue a new tender for the implementation of a ‘settlement project’ in the Ariel settlement, on land belonging to the Salfeet Governorate.
The project aims to construct 342 settlement units in a multi-story building, which was previously approved by the occupation authorities on May 25, 2025. According to the Palestinian Authority, the occupation authorities published 12 settlement tenders during the first half of 2026, distributed among residential, commercial, industrial, tourism, and service projects. These tenders included the construction of 1,138 settlement units in five main settlements: Ariel 342 units, Ma ale Adumim (east of Jerusalem - 581 units), Amona ‘Salfeet - 21 units’, and Ganei Modi in ‘Ramallah - 194 units’.
In another level, Save the Children International revealed in its latest report figures that have shocked the humanitarian and international community, confirming the displacement of more than 1,000 Palestinian children in the first half of this year alone. The organization stated that this number represents half the total number of children forced to leave their homes due to settler violence over the previous three years, with approximately 2,000 children forcibly displaced between January 2023 and December 2025.
According to UN, the rate of settler attacks increased by 45% in the first half of 2026 compared to the last year, with more than 1,020 incidents recorded since Jan. up from 757 attacks during the 1st 6 months of 2025. A UN Commission of Inquiry - COI, which was formed by the Human Rights Council on May 27, 2021, also confirmed that settler violence is managed by the state. Thanks to impunity, the Israeli government and the Israeli occupation army are -dir-ectly involved in settler attacks that killed, injured and displaced Palestinians.
It led to an escalation in the number of injuries resulting from attacks by state-backed settlers in 2026, as UN data revealed that about 569 Palestinians were injured by settlers since the beginning of the year, compared to 832 in 2025, 362 in 2024, and 376 in 2023. Since Oct. 2023, the West Bank has witnessed an escalation in attacks by the Israeli army and settlers, which resulted in the death of 1,181 Palestinians and the injury of about 13,000, in addition to the arrest of nearly 24,000, according to official data as of July 7th.
List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
- Grazing their livestock among the dwellings in the Mahtoush Community, east of occupied Jerusalem, and near their barns, in conjunction with the continuing restrictions imposed by the settlers on sheep herders to deprive them of access to pastures and obstruct their movement, which threatens their source of livelihood.
- Storming the Al-Khandeq area in the town of Beit Anan and set fire to agricultural land, causing the burn of a number of fruit trees, destroying others, and throwing at citizens’ vehicles, damaging 8 vehicles, damaging the tires of waste transport vehicles in the town, and assaulting a waste dump employee.
- Demolishing the house of citizen Salama Othman Wazoz and bulldozed the walls surrounding it in the Al-Asweja Neighborhood in Al-Ram, it was housing 6 individuals. They fired a barrage of gas and sound bombs in the vicinity of the house and demolished barracks in the town of Rafat, under the pretext of not having a license.
Hebron:
- Attacking the family of Ayed Mur in Khirbet Amneizel, east of Yatta, assaulting them and injuring several members, stolen their sheep.
- Attacking the village of Tuwaneh in Masafer Yatta, set fire to the village mosque, 2 houses, a dairy factory, and a resident s vehicle.
- Poisoning sheep in Masafer Yatta, the Al-Baydar human rights organization reported that settlers killed sheep belonging to Palestinians after injecting them with a toxic materials in the Wadi Rakheem area.
- Injuring an elderly Palestinian man, and others sustained minor bruises and cuts, in an attack by settlers on Palestinians in the town of Surif. In the Khallat al-Homs area south of Yatta
- Seizing a water well and pumped water from it towards the settlement outpost they recently established on Palestinian land in the Khallat Homs area south of Yatta, as part of their expansionist policy and control over Palestinian land in the area.
- Demolishing a house belonging to Fouad Jaradat in the Wadi Sharikh area of Sa ir, under the pretext of building without a permit.
- Issuing stop-work and demolition orders for 3 agricultural rooms and photographed a number of houses that had been previously issued such orders in the Barouq area south of Hebron.
Bethlehem:
- Attacking Anwar Moh’d Mosa Fawaghra, 30 in the Abu Njeim area southeast of Bethlehem, severely beaten him and causing bruises and injuries.
- Storming the Al-Manaq area between Al-Maniya and Kisan to the south, damaged the water network that supplies water to members of the Al-Aramin family and stolen 2 water tanks.
- Forcing Marie Abu Sa’ad to demolish an addition to his house, which was built before 1967 and is located adjacent to the Apartheid Wall in the Bir Auna area of Beit Jala.
- Storming the Nahalin town and positioned themselves in the Sabiha area, demolished 4 houses in the town.
- Storming the Za tara town and began demolishing the house of Raed Hassan Abu Ra iya, which consists of a basement and 2 floors.
Ramallah:
- Killing 2 citizens during a settler attack on the Deir Jarir town. The Ministry of Health announced the death of the 2 young men, Ahmed Adel Rashid Abu Makhkho, 26 and Awda Abdul Rahim Awda Farakhna, 53 during an attack launched by settlers and occupation forces on the town. Local sources reported that occupation police and army forces stormed the ‘Al-Hara’iq’ area in the town and began searching an agricultural shed under the pretext of looking for sheep belonging to settlers. They detained a number of citizens, and clashes broke out after settlers arrived and looted 70 sheep belonging to citizen Moh’d Rashid, resulting in a number of injuries.
- Killing a 17 years old boy, Hamdallah Naasan, from the village of Mughayyir a week ago.
- Constructing a settler road to connect the ‘Nili settlement’ to a new settlement adjacent to Palestinian homes on land belonging to the towns of Deir Qadis and Kharbatha Bani Harith.
- Attacking a vehicle near the entrance to the Sinjil town, after it broke down. In another attack, they stormed the southern outskirts of the town in the Tel Batin area, burning crops and firing live ammunition at residents who tried to repel them and force them to leave.
- Preventing residents from accessing their agricultural lands. in Deir Qadis, Israeli occupation forces burned dozens of olive trees after chasing farmers working their land in the Jabal al-Ras and Bir al-Asafir areas south of the village. They fired live ammunition and tear gas at the farmers, causing fires. Fires engulfed vast areas of Palestinian-owned land planted with scores of olive trees. In the villages of Deir Ibzi and Ein Arik
- Stealing a number of sheep in the villages of Deir Ibzi and Ein Arik, while Israeli occupation forces deployed military reinforcements to the area, stormed the village, and fired live ammunition at residents.
- Attacking the Turmusaya town, set fire to agricultural land.
Nablus:
- Killing 4 citizens in cold blood and injured others
from the Til town, southwest of the city of Nablus, by bullets from the occupation army and terrorist settlers, who attacked the town in the early morning hours of Friday.
- Moving to a new settlement established on Mount Ebal overlooking the city of Nablus, according to what the Regional Council for Settlements in the Northern West Bank announced, and they transferred their equipment and a number of caravans to the settlement new Ebal, which was recently established on the site in the context of expanding settlement in the Nablus and Jenin Governorates.
- Attacking the citizens in the villages of Qaryut, Jalud, Qasra and Juresh, to the southeast of the city of Nablus by the terrorist Hill Youth thugs.
- Attacking the solidarity activists in the Juresh village, sources reported that a number of settlers attacked citizens and solidarity activists under the protection of the occupation forces during the solidarity attempt to repair damage to a house resulting from previous settlement attacks. They confirmed that the settlers attacked the citizens and stuffed them with their bodies near one of the windows of the house, before a settler climbed the window and stamped his foot, on the head and neck in solidarity, while another settler proceeded to hit her on the head.
- Attacking the ‘Al-Dhahra area’ in the Beita town, and proceeded to cut and damage the electricity poles there, which is the fourth time in a row that settlers have damaged the electricity poles in the area.
- Attacking the Suhaib Radwan’s home in the Tel town, and set it on fire, which led to its complete burning.
- Attacking the young man Anas Abdul Hakim Luqman in the Barqa town, he was beaten while he was on the Jenin-Nablus road, which led to him sustaining hand injuries, 4 citizens were also injured as a result of settlers attacking them in the ‘Al-Dhahra’ area of the town.
- Storming the Qammas area in Beita, attacked an agricultural facility, and carried out acts of sabotage inside it, while the occupation forces fired live bullets and poison gas and sound bombs towards the citizens who confronted the settlers.
Tulkarm:
- Storming the Ramein town, set fire to a vehicle and an agricultural tractor. They also tried to set fire to other vehicles and houses, but the awareness of the citizens and their rapid response with the support of the Civil Defense crews in Anabta prevented this.
Jenin:
- Injuring 3 citizens as a result of an attack carried out by settlers on the town of Raba. The head of the Raba Village Council, Ghassan Bazur, said that a group of settlers attacked the house of Yassin Hassan Silawi in the northeastern area of the town, and severely beaten him and 2 of his sons, they also tried to steal sheep from his farm, adding that the settlers came from the settlement outpost established on the village lands in the Jabal Al-Salmi area.
Jordan Valley:
- Demolishing Sharif Abu Jaish’s home, he is a member of the village council in the Furush Beit Dajan in the Ccentral Jordan Valley, along with several other structures, and uprooted trees.
- Firing large areas of land as a result of live-fire military exercises in the northern Jordan Valley. Human rights activist Fares Fuqaha reported that the Israeli army was conducting military drills south and west of the villages of Bardala and Kardala in the northern Jordan Valley, which resulted in fires igniting across a wide area of grazing land.

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