From the Liveblog of
Saturday, December 6, 2025
Netanyahu spokesperson issues flat denial of TV report PM ordered 14 illegal outposts evacuated
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
According to a report by Channel 12 news, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the evacuation of 14 illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank due to the involvement of their residents in extremist violence, although Netanyahu’s spokesperson flatly denies the story.
The report states that the security services view the outposts as sources of Jewish terrorism, and as “staging posts” for extremist settlers to attack Palestinian villages and civilians in the vicinity.
The residents of such outposts are also thought to be responsible for recent attacks against the IDF and the Israeli police.
According to the report, the security services will seek to detain some 70 such extremist activists and issue them with orders banning them from the West Bank.
A spokesperson for Netanyahu denies that the prime minister has issued any such order when asked by The Times of Israel, however, and a denial is repeated by a senior government official.
Violence by extremist settler activists has erupted in recent months, especially beginning with the olive harvest season in mid-October, with numerous incidents of extremists beating Palestinian civilians and carrying out arson attacks and other forms of violence.
And dozens of illegal outposts have been established around the West Bank since the beginning of the war with Hamas in Gaza.
The heightened violence has generated international condemnation, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressing concern in November over the attacks.
The Times of Israel Community.