Katz orders end to administrative restraining order against detained settler extremist

Defense Minister Israel Katz says he instructed Israel’s security forces not to renew an administrative restraining order against a suspected violent settler, which aims to bar him from the West Bank.

Tal Yinon Dardik is suspected of a brutal attack in Khirbet Humsa, a Palestinian village in the West Bank, where he, along with other extremist settlers, allegedly stripped a Palestinian victim, zip-tied his genitals, and paraded him around the village in March. Dardik denies taking part in the incident.

After refusing to be placed under house arrest outside of his settlement farm, he was placed in a detention cell, where he has been fasting for over three weeks.

An administrative order enables authorities to hold or restrict suspects indefinitely without charge. The measure is used almost exclusively against Palestinians after Katz sought to end its use against Jewish extremists.

Last week, Katz reportedly visited Dardik in his jail cell.

Meanwhile, a military-legal committee approved an appeal against the restraining order issued by Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth.

Katz says he held an assessment with top military, police and defense officials yesterday, and instructed them not to renew the order, “and that the issue instead be addressed through other means.”

Additionally, in the assessment, Katz says he instructed the military to increase operations against “Palestinian terrorism, which is attempting to rear its head” and to be prepared to capture another West Bank refugee camp, similar to operations carried out by the army in early 2025.