Israeli settlers establish record number of ‘illegal’ outposts in the West Bank as clashes continue between Palestinian’s and settlers amid the war in Gaza

Last year, Israeli settlers established a record number of illegal outposts in the West Bank as violence escalates in the occupied territory.

According to a BBC analysis, there are now at least 196 cases, 29 of which last year were in flagrant violation of UN resolutions and international law.

Settlements require a building permit, but there is no official data on these less clear-cut groups of dwellings without borders.

But satellite imagery and open-source data, including social media posts and local news sources, show a dramatic increase in these types of housing and farm clusters.

Internal documents also show that organisations with close ties to the Israeli government provided money and land for its establishment, BBC World Service reported.

People check a burned-out car a day after an attack by Jewish settlers on the village of Jit near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, which left a 23-year-old man dead and others seriously wounded, on August 16, 2024

According to a BBC analysis, there are now at least 196, 29 of which appeared last year in flagrant violation of UN resolutions and international law.

Palestinians warn of increasing attacks by armed settlers, who say they are often supported by the army and are forcibly evicting them from their homes.

Since October 7, more than 500 people have been killed in the area. The vast majority of the deaths occurred during Israeli counter-terrorism operations, but at least 20 people are believed to have been killed by settlers.

Avi Mizrahi, a former Israeli army commander in the West Bank, said the outposts are exacerbating tensions.

“When you build illegal outposts in an area, it creates tensions with the Palestinians living in the same area,” he told the BBC.

Earlier this year, the British government sanctioned eight extremist settlers for inciting or committing violence against Palestinians, at least six of whom have set up or are living on illegal outposts.

Among them was Moshe Sharvit, who is accused of threatening Palestinians with a gun and ordering them to leave their homes.

Grandmother Ayesha Shtayyeh said he ordered her to leave the place she had called home for 50 years and pulled a gun on her.

A group of activists holding banners hold a protest in the Makhror area against the forced displacement of Palestinians and the demolition of their homes by Israeli forces on September 3, 2024.

Palestinians have warned of increasing attacks by armed settlers who they say are often backed by the military and forcibly removing them from their homes.

More than 500 people have died in the area since October 7

“He made our lives hell,” she said, after moving with her son to a town near Nablus.

Sharvit began a campaign of intimidation and harassment almost immediately after establishing his outpost in late 2021, Ms. Shtayyeh said.

When her husband Nabil grazed his goats on pastures he had used for decades, Sharvit raced there in a truck full of settlers who chased the animals away.

Nabil said: ‘I replied that we would leave if the government, or the police, or the judge told us. ‘He said to me: “I am the government, and I am the judge, and I am the police.”‘

Outposts, unlike settlements, have no official Israeli approval for their construction plans. These are larger, mostly urban, Jewish enclaves built throughout the West Bank and are legal under Israeli law.

Both are illegal under international law, which prohibits the transfer of civilians into occupied territory.

The UN High Court ruled in July that Israel must halt all new settlement activity and evacuate residents of the occupied Palestinian territories.

Israel, however, rejected the view as “fundamentally wrong” and one-sided, adding that there is little evidence that the government is taking strong action against the outposts.