Security forces and Civil Administration personnel on Monday began an evacuation and demolition operation against an illegal settlement outpost in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank, in an apparent response to accusations from a local council head that there was “anarchy” in the area.
The rare evacuation of an illegal outpost under the current right-wing government came a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu broke his silence on the widespread and mounting attacks by extremist settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank, and vowed “forceful action.”
While most of the international community considers all settlements illegal, Israel only considers those built without government permission to be unlawful. The government has worked in recent months to give permits to dozens of outposts.
Officials — including some from the settlement — defended the evacuation, saying that the move was prompted by the behavior of the residents and claims that their construction was blocking efforts to establish hundreds of authorized settlement homes on the land, not by attacks on Palestinians.
According to reports from settler activists and video footage from the scene, a large force was dispatched to the Tzur Misgavi outpost southeast of Efrat, which was established around two years ago, and where some 25 families live.
By midday, two homes were demolished, with forces continuing to carry out the operation despite protests from activists.
A video filmed by settlers at Tzur Misgavi showing trucks entering to demolish the illegal outpost on November 17, 2025. (Courtesy)
Video footage sent by activists showed heavy machinery entering the outpost and preparing to demolish structures there, accompanied by a large Border Police force.
Footage also showed dozens of activists sitting around the demolition equipment, attempting to delay the measure, and security forces scuffling and carrying away activists at the scene. Another video showed an overturned vehicle on fire.
The Civil Administration — a department of the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories — which has responsibility for such operations, said the evacuation was being carried out following an order signed by IDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, “following the fact that criminal activity and serious incidents of crime and violence had taken place at the site, which affected the security of the area.”
“The IDF, including the Civil Administration and all security bodies, will continue to work to strengthen security and uphold law and order in Judea and Samaria, with an emphasis on enforcing action against structures built illegally, which harm the security and public order of all residents of the area,” the Defense Ministry body added, referring to the West Bank by its biblical names.
The order came two months after Gush Etzion Regional Council head Yaron Rosenthal appealed to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz over “complete anarchy” in the area that was accompanied by the unauthorized construction, according to a letter cited by Hebrew media outlets.
Smotrich, a key supporter of the settlement movement in the government, is a minister in the Defense Ministry with authority over some responsibilities of COGAT and the Civil Administration, the two Defense Ministry agencies in charge of civilian affairs in Area C of the West Bank, where Israel has full security and civilian control.
View of the settlement of Efrat, Gush Etzion, in the West Bank, July 31, 2025. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)
He said Monday that the Civil Administration was carrying out Rosenthal’s request, due to a “group of people who came to the land by themselves,” disrupting official council plans to develop the area.
Rosenthal said there had been attacks by outpost residents on Israeli farmers and soldiers, and sexual harassment of women in the nearby outpost of Pnei Kedem, in the letter dated September 4.
He warned of “an intolerable reality” of people establishing settlements on their own while harming existing, authorized ones.
Smotrich said on Monday, “Dialogue was recently conducted between the residents who came there and the council, and everyone is hoping this will end in agreement. But the council requested to stop the construction of buildings during this negotiation.”
“There is no need to teach us how to do Zionism, or how to build settlements,” Smotrich said, in an apparent dig at the illegal outpost’s residents.
Rosenthal commended Smotrich on approving the “painful but necessary” measure in a statement on Monday.
“It’s impossible to develop Gush Etzion when a handful of people take control of many hundreds of dunams and construct improvised buildings on land designated for the establishment of thousands of homes for the next generation,” he said.
תושבים מנסים לעכב את ההרס בגבעת צור משגבי. אחד הדחפורים נחסם pic.twitter.com/FN7uYQH1lW
— דביר עמר (@dviramar2) November 17, 2025
“Pirate construction in an area that is not at all threatened harms nearby communities, blocks the planned access road, and creates complete anarchy, including the sale of private land by people who do not own it,” he charged.
“This is not how you build a settlement, and definitely not how you bring a million Jews to Judea and Samaria,” he said.
Residents of the outpost denounced Rosenthal’s claims in a statement carried by the Hebrew media, claiming that they were defending against an “Arab takeover” of the land by establishing the outpost.
“The outposts that were built in the last two years changed the face of the area and stopped the takeover,” they claimed.
Hundreds of residents of Pnei Kedem and the settlement of Metzad also penned a letter to Rosenthal slamming his accusations, expressing “shock at the destructive and unilateral move made by the council.”
The letter blasted the council for “slandering [residents] as violent people in a discourse that suits the enemies of the settlements.”
“We remember well these areas were full of Arab invaders who grew and grew for years, posing a serious threat to the settlements, with the complete helplessness of the council’s land department,” the letter read, saying that outpost residents were the only reason why the so-called invaders departed.
Far-right Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech, who was making her way to the protest against the demolition, called on the regional council chair to “immediately stop” the measure, and also appealed to Smotrich to halt the evacuation in a letter.
“Stop the bulldozers and prevent the destruction. This is a dangerous precedent that will lead to a wave of demolitions, and the land of Israel will not forgive you for this. There will be no revival and no forgiveness for this,” she wrote on X.
עימותים בין כוחות הביטחון למתפרעים בזמן פינוי המאחז בגוש עציוןhttps://t.co/MXuLZIKjYO@HGoldich @ItayBlumental pic.twitter.com/J8dC1QYego
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) November 17, 2025
Veteran settler leader Daniella Weiss, head of the Nachala settlement movement, issued a call to activists to go to Tzur Misgavi and to “struggle against the destruction,” according to a statement put out by activists.
“The public is called upon to urgently go [to Tsur Misgavi] to prevent the destruction of dozens of homes which were built with great toil on the hilltops close to Metzad,” the statement said.