Burning tires and spikes: Israel's army clears 4 West Bank outposts it calls sources of violence

Israeli troops and Border Police removed four illegal outposts in the West Bank over Monday and Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. The army said the sites, near the Palestinian villages of Burqa, Wadi Rahim and Jalud, were the source of "repeated acts of violence and illegal activity," the Times of Israel reported. During an overnight operation near Burqa, troops met barricades of burning tires, rocks and spikes. Three Israeli civilians were detained.

The evacuations are a rare enforcement step against outposts at a time of record settler violence. The ACLED conflict monitor says 2026 is already the most violent year it has recorded in the West Bank. The step also lands in a political vacuum: Israel has a caretaker government, ministers who back the settlement movement still hold key posts, and a new coalition has not yet formed. Whether this is a one-off or the start of wider enforcement is the question settlers, Palestinians and Israel's next government will all face.

What the army says happened#

The IDF said soldiers and Border Police finished "enforcement" against four illegal outposts in the past two days. They removed several vehicles, tents and temporary structures, which the army said "lacked infrastructure and adequate living conditions," according to the Times of Israel. The Israel.com newsroom, citing the IDF spokesperson, said the structures stood in an area under a closed military zone order.

The overnight operation near Burqa met resistance. "Barricades made of burning tires, rocks and spikes" had been placed by settlers, the army said, and two security force vehicles were damaged. The IDF said settlers also threw stones at the forces and set fires in the village. "The forces cleared the barricades and restored order in the area," it said.

Three Israeli civilians were detained and handed to police. Kore, an Israeli Hebrew news site, reported that they were taken for questioning at the Binyamin police station in the Judea and Samaria police district. Police forensic investigators later entered the village under army escort to collect evidence and take statements.

1. 1Targetfour illegal outposts near Burqa, Wadi Rahim and Jalud
2. 2Removalvehicles, tents and temporary structures taken away over two days
3. 3Resistance near Burqaburning tires, rocks and spikes; two security vehicles damaged
4. 4Clashesstones thrown at forces and fires set in the village
5. 5Arreststhree Israeli civilians handed to Binyamin police
6. 6Investigationpolice forensic teams collect evidence under army escort

Source: Times of Israel live blog, Kore

Which Burqa#

There are two West Bank villages called Burqa, and both have been in the news this week. Kore's account of the IDF statement places the clash at "Burqa in Binyamin," the Israeli name for the area around Ramallah, and the detainees were taken to the Binyamin police station. That points to the village of Burqa east of Ramallah.

It is a different village from Burqa northwest of Nablus, where Israeli troops shot dead a 14-year-old boy on Monday night. The army said it fired at people preparing to throw stones at a highway, while Palestinian officials said troops fired on a group of teenagers. 567 Politics reported on that killing and on a settler attack the same day on Rabbis for Human Rights volunteers in Qusra.

The Ramallah-area Burqa has its own recent history of violence. On Nov. 5, settlers set fire to olive trees in the village one after another, the Palestinian Authority's Wafa news agency reported. Wafa said Israeli forces then raided the village, fired live ammunition and briefly detained several Palestinians. The IDF has not said which outposts it removed or whether any were linked to that fire.

The scale of the problem#

Independent data show why the outposts matter. ACLED, a group that tracks political violence worldwide, published a report on Sept. 30 titled "Settler violence in the West Bank hits record levels as farming outposts expand." ACLED said that 2026 "is already the most violent year since ACLED began monitoring the West Bank in 2016."

ACLED tied that rise to new outposts, especially farm outposts, where a few settlers with livestock can hold large areas of land. Using data from the Israeli group Peace Now, it counted 259 new outposts from 2023 through Sept. 11, 2026, of which 186 were farm outposts.

• Farm outposts
• Other outposts

0

25

50

75

100

2023Farm outposts: 24Other outposts: 8

2024Farm outposts: 43Other outposts: 18

2025Farm outposts: 62Other outposts: 30

2026Farm outposts: 57Other outposts: 17

2023202420252026

Source: ACLED, citing Peace Now data

Show the numbers

Year	Farm outposts	Other outposts
2023	24	8
2024	43	18
2025	62	30
2026	57	17

ACLED found that 49% of settler violence events in 2026 took place within 3 kilometers of a farm outpost set up that same year. Settler shooting incidents, including cases involving Israeli forces, rose from 48 in 2022 to 158 in 2023, and reached 203 in the first eight-plus months of 2026, it said. ACLED also cited data showing that since 2005, nearly 94% of police investigation files against settlers were closed without an indictment, and only 3% led to a conviction.

The violence has also spread to more places. In the first eight months of 2026, settler violence affected 397 locations across the West Bank, 75% more than in 2022, ACLED said. The Hebron, Ramallah and al-Bireh, and Nablus governorates account for about 74% of the increase in affected locations between 2025 and 2026. Most new outposts are in Area C, which is under full Israeli control. But ACLED counted at least 20 farm outposts set up since 2024 in Area B, where the Palestinian Authority runs civil affairs, including 12 in the first seven months of 2026.

Palestinian officials report a similar pattern. The Palestinian Authority's Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission documented 674 attacks on olive trees and farmers from Oct. 1 to Nov. 6, Wafa reported. It attributed 520 to settlers and 154 to the Israeli army, with 130 in the Ramallah and al-Bireh governorate. Those figures come from a PA body and have not been independently verified. UN data on the harvest season are covered in 567 Politics' report on the record olive-harvest attacks.

The case for removing outposts#

The IDF's stated reason is security. The army said violence came from these specific sites, so removing them removes a base for attacks.

Israel's president has also spoken out on settler violence. In his speech to the new Knesset on Tuesday, Isaac Herzog listed "moral stains" in Israeli society. "There is no place for violence, not in Arab society, not in the hills of Judea and Samaria, not in the streets of the cities, not in the schools, anywhere," he said, according to the Times of Israel. "And it must be eradicated with all its might."

ACLED's data support the link the army draws between new outposts and violence nearby. But ACLED also warned that outposts and armed local security units built up since 2023 "would be difficult to reverse" even under a different government.

The settler movement's case#

No public statement from settler leaders on this week's evacuations was found by Tuesday night. But the movement's leaders set out their view last December, when Israeli media reported that Netanyahu had ordered 14 outposts that "export Jewish terror" removed. An official denied that report at the time.

Omer Rahamim, the director-general of the Yesha Council, the main settler umbrella group, rejected the approach. "If there's a problem of violence, you need to deal with the people. But if there isn't a problem, what will it help to dismantle places where people live?" he told 103FM radio, as quoted by N12. In the same interview, Walla reported, he called the violent incidents "negligible" in number, saying there are not even 10 convictions a year among more than half a million residents. He blamed a small fringe of dropout youth and called for education and welfare programs. "Whoever breaks the law should meet the law," he added.

The camp of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was more pointed. "Minister Ben Gvir opposes and fights against this," his associates said, according to the same N12 report. "Before destroying outposts, first destroy thousands of illegal homes of PA residents in Judea and Samaria." They argued that Israel should not carry out what they called discrimination that "includes demolition only for Jews."

Those statements are from December 2025, not this week. 567 Politics found no response from Ben Gvir, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich or the Yesha Council to the latest evacuations by Tuesday night.

The Palestinian view#

Palestinian officials and rights groups describe outposts as the launching points for daily attacks on farmers. In Sinjil, north of Ramallah, settlers "infiltrate the town from an outpost established on its lands about a year ago" and carry out "near-daily attacks," Wafa reported on Tuesday, citing local sources.

ACLED's count of 259 new outposts since 2023 gives a sense of scale against the four removed this week. ACLED's data also include cases in which soldiers joined settlers in shooting or other violence. Wafa's Tuesday report on Deir Abu Mash'al, west of Ramallah, said soldiers fired tear gas at olive harvesters while settlers smashed car windows. The Palestinian Authority did not issue a specific statement on the four evacuations that 567 Politics could find.

Politics after the election#

The evacuations come in a period of transition. Netanyahu leads a caretaker government after losing his majority in the October election. Ben Gvir and Smotrich, both settlement supporters, remain ministers until a new government is sworn in. Smotrich also oversees the Civil Administration, the body that handles planning in much of the West Bank.

Gadi Eisenkot, who holds the mandate to form a new government, has not set out a West Bank enforcement policy in the reports reviewed for this story. ACLED wrote before the election that a government led by figures such as Eisenkot or Naftali Bennett "is likely to struggle to reverse" the outpost network. Other recent moves continue to expand settlement, including a tender for 732 homes in Gvaot.

What is not known#

The IDF has not named the four outposts or said whether more evacuations are planned. It is not known whether the three detainees will be charged. It is too early to know whether these sites will be re-occupied. It is also not known whether Palestinians in the affected villages will regain access to land near the cleared sites.

Differing perspectives

Is removing illegal West Bank outposts the right response to settler violence?

Each position is summarized as its supporters make it, with equal weight and in alphabetical order. A summary is not an endorsement; the evidence for each is weighed in the story above.

• Confront the whole outpost network

  Who holds it: Palestinian Authority officials and the PA's Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission

  Palestinian officials and the PA agency Wafa say settler outposts are launching points for near-daily attacks on villages and farmers, citing a Sinjil outpost set up about a year ago. The PA commission counted 674 attacks on olive trees and farmers from Oct. 1 to Nov. 6, most by settlers. In this view, the threat comes from the outpost network as a whole, and residents need protection and access to their land.

  In their words: WAFA (Palestinian Authority news agency) ↗

• Demolish illegal Palestinian building first

  Who holds it: Associates of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir (Otzma Yehudit)

  Associates of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir say he opposes and fights outpost evacuations. They argue that before any outposts are torn down, authorities should first demolish thousands of illegal homes built by Palestinian Authority residents in the West Bank. In their view, enforcement that targets only Jewish construction is discriminatory, and the same demolition policy applied to unlicensed Bedouin building in the Negev should be applied to Palestinians.

  In their words: N12 (statement from Ben Gvir's associates, December 2025) ↗

• Punish violent individuals, not communities

  Who holds it: Yesha Council director-general Omer Rahamim

  Yesha Council director-general Omer Rahamim says that if there is a problem of violence, authorities should deal with the people responsible rather than dismantle places where people live. He calls violent incidents marginal and few in number given more than half a million residents, blames a fringe of dropout youth, and urges education and welfare programs. Those who break the law, he says, should face the law, but settlement as a whole should not be blamed.

  In their words: Walla (103FM interview, December 2025) ↗

• Remove outposts that generate violence

  Who holds it: The Israel Defense Forces and Border Police

  The army says the four outposts it removed near Burqa, Wadi Rahim and Jalud were the source of repeated violence and illegal activity, so clearing them removes a base for attacks. It describes the sites as tents, vehicles and temporary structures without infrastructure, some in a closed military zone. Troops met burning-tire barricades and stone-throwing, and three Israeli civilians were detained for police questioning, showing that the law applies to those who resist enforcement.

  In their words: Israel.com (IDF spokesperson statement) ↗

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