Israel targets over 500 acres in occupied West Bank with orders

The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said Saturday that Israeli authorities have issued 49 military orders targeting 2,093 dunams (517 acres) of privately owned Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank since January, imposing sweeping access restrictions that stop short of formal confiscation but effectively bar cultivation and development.

Sweeping restrictions on land use

The orders, issued under the pretext of "security measures," permit Israeli forces to remove or trim trees and prevent Palestinian landowners from entering or working their plots, the commission stated. It noted that the restrictions are concentrated around Israeli settlements, settlement roads, the separation barrier and military sites — effectively expanding Israeli control over Palestinian territory without transferring formal ownership.

Surge in military orders

Israeli authorities issued 47 orders covering 1,613 dunams throughout 2025, the commission reported, highlighting that the 49 orders issued in the first six months of 2026 alone already exceed last year's total coverage. The acceleration reflects a growing reliance on such military edicts to advance settlement infrastructure and tighten the squeeze on Palestinian landholders, it added.

Occupation violence and casualties

The commission’s semiannual report documented 3,488 attacks by Israeli occupiers against Palestinian communities in the West Bank during the first half of 2026, including arson, shootings, land seizures and the establishment of unauthorized settlement outposts. Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog, estimates that 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank alongside 250,000 in occupied East Jerusalem. Since the Gaza genocide began in October 2023, Israeli military offensives and settler violence have killed at least 1,175 Palestinians in the territory, injured 12,919 others, displaced 33,000 and led to the arrest of nearly 24,000 people, according to official Palestinian figures.