Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has formed a police unit aimed at targeting left-wing activists who express solidarity with Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, according to a report on Tuesday.
The unit's formation came as a direct response to sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe against West Bank outposts and extremist settlers, according to a report by Ynet news site.
Ben-Gvir accused activists of passing information about the sanctioned settlers to the Biden administration, the report said.
The new force includes military interrogators who will work in cooperation with the police and has already arrested several people, the report said.
The unit will target activists in the West Bank who show solidarity with the Palestinians, with targets falling into three categories identified by the unit: foreign nationals, tourists and citizens who confront the military.
Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank have been intensifying their attacks on Palestinians and their properties in the region, carrying out large-scale raids and assaults, particularly in the village of Al-Mughayyir in Ramallah and villages in the Nablus, Bethlehem and Hebron governorates.
People have been displaced from 20 communities and at least seven communities have been uprooted by settlers since 7 October.
The current wave of violence was triggered by the disappearance of an Israeli settler Binyamin Ahimeir, who went missing after leaving his settler outpost in the Ramallah area. However, Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians have risen exponentially in 2023 and 2024.
Ahimeir's body was found a day later, leading the Israeli military to condemn the killing as "a terrorist attack".
The United Nations condemned the Israeli military for its silence and complicity in the resulting escalating violence by Israeli settlers, while Human Rights Watch found that the Israeli army either participated in the settler attacks or failed to protect Palestinians from them.
The foreign ministers of France, Poland, and Germany also issued a joint statement that Israeli settlers involved in West Bank attacks would face sanctions.