Amid US pressure, Netanyahu orders removal of illegal West Bank settler outposts, sources say

It was not immediately clear when the operation would begin, with reports from Israeli media pointing out that hundreds of settlements could be removed.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered unauthorized settler outposts in the West Bank to be dismantled, two people familiar with the matter said on Sunday, amid pressure from the US to crack down on settler attacks on Palestinians.

The order applies to outposts established by settlers without official authorization from the Israeli state, the sources said. Outposts typically consist of prefabricated caravans and house a small number of settlers. The state has from time to time demolished such structures and also formally recognized others, allowing them to access government funding.

It was not immediately clear when the operation would begin.

US urges Israel to act against settler violence

Netanyahu had ordered the eviction of the unauthorized outposts in response to pressure from the United States, the country's closest ally, the sources said.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Saturday denounced violent settlers as terrorists and called for them to face severe consequences following a meeting with several Palestinian Americans in a West Bank Palestinian town.

Ynet earlier reported that the orders targeted around 100 outposts across the West Bank.

The Israeli prime minister's office and the military, who would normally take part in clearing any outposts in the West Bank, did not immediately respond to a request to comment.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, asked at a conference in Jerusalem about the Ynet report, said Netanyahu has given "an instruction to evict places built in Areas A and B."

Under the Oslo Accords, interim peace agreements reached in the 1990s between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the West Bank was split into three zones: A, B and C.

Smotrich, a settler himself who has overseen settlement housing projects and formally recognized homes built illegally, said that while he disagreed with Netanyahu's decision, the government had made huge strides in advancing settlements in Area C.

Settler violence on the rise

Last month, Israeli settlers besieged the homes of Palestinians in a nearby village, including one owned by a Palestinian American, before the military forced them from the area. The village's Palestinian residents have said they have continued to face harassment and intimidation by Israeli settlers.

The Israeli government has condemned the attacks and said that it would act to stop settler violence.

On Saturday, Huckabee said it was in Israel's own interest to take action against settlers carrying out what he described as "criminal behavior and terrorism."