Settlement & Annexation Report: December 13, 2025

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December 13, 2025

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December 13, 2025

Israeli Cabinet Approves Smotrich’s Five-Year, $843 Million De-Facto Annexation Plan

The Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot reports that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has earmarked $843million (NIS 2.7billion) over the next five years to expand settlements and outposts across the West Bank, describing it as de facto annexation. The earmark was added to the state budget, which was passed by the Israeli cabinet last week. The budget needs to pass three votes in the Knesset before becoming law.

Among the projects to be funded are:

$70 million to create a land-registration unit, a team of 41 staff which will takeover responsibility from the Israeli Civil Administration and initiate a systematic mapping of West Bank land registrations, transferring those records to a new dedicated West Bank registry.
Establish 17 new settlements;
$300M for new settlement construction and reinforcement;
$93M for outposts being legalized;
Mobile “absorption clusters” of 20 caravans each thatcan rapidly move in settlers to establish new settlements;
3 Israeli army bases to be relocated into northern West Bank Palestinian areas, including the relocation of the “Menashe” brigade, which is a “dramatic” move “intended to strengthen the military and colonial grip on the region.”;
New army roads, armored settler buses, synagogues, and utilities.

IDF Whistleblower: IDF Is Actively Facilitating New Farming Outposts

An IDF officers told a popular Israeli news program that the IDF is fully aware of and helping to facilitate the establishment of new illegal outposts, reporting that the head of the IDF Central Command Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth issued an order that allocates IDF resources for establishing new farming outposts. As a reminder, farming outposts have become a preferred model of outpost growth because they require only minimal settlers with livestock that can take over huge amounts of land, dispossessing huge numbers of Palestinians.

The hand-in-hand partnership with the outposts was formalized by Maj. Gen. Bluth, who was appointed head of the IDF Central Command in July 2024. Previously, the whistleblower claims the army did not know about new outposts until they were set up by the settlers on their own accord. Marking a huge change in policy, Bluth appointed Elitzur Trabelsi as the key coordinator for new outposts, an arrangement described by the whistleblower:

“Trabelsi spares the Central Command chief from having to get his hands dirty. He goes, handles the matter, and gets involved in all of the plans to establish the farms. He tours the farm with the owner, interviews him. After the tour, he involves the regional brigade commander, updates him, sends out maps, and then goes to the command chief for approval – and thus the farm is established with full coordination…

It’s not just tacit coordination. In the division and regional brigade, there is actually an order for ‘establishing farms on the ground.’ It details the forces allocated to secure the farm, how they are deployed and how many caravans are on the farm. He runs a completely organized process…

You can no longer control it, and there’s this cycle: A farm is established, it creates friction, that friction generates more friction, which leads to an attack, the attack leads to the expansion of the farm, and the desire to turn it into a settlement. It’s an event that never ends,” the officer said. “The IDF is knowingly involved in an illegal activity that is not part of its role.”

Following the news program, Peace Now has called for an investigation and dismissal of Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth over this criminality, saying:

“Bluth has turned the IDF into an auxiliary force serving the Hilltop Youth terrorists. He cannot remain in uniform.”

B’Tselem spokesperson Sarit Michaeli said:

“The “Zman Emet” expose provides the smoking gun – in the form of an officer whistleblower – for what we have been saying all along – that the Israeli Army, under the OC Central Command Maj Gen Avi Bluth, is instrumental in establishing settler terror farms. The success of the settler farm model in ethnically cleansing large swaths of land in the West Bank is the direct result of this state support, which takes the form of funding, political backing, military protection and orchestration, & police-granted impunity.”

Israel Announces Plans to Legalize Another 19 Outposts

Andalou Agency reports that on December 11th, the Israeli Security Cabinet approved plans to legalize 19 outposts, including the reestablishment of the Ganim and Kadim settlements in the northern West Bank (which were dismantled by the Israeli government in 2005 along with Homesh and Sa-Nur, both of which have already received government approval to be reestablished). The other 16 outposts to be legalized are not named in current news reports.

According to Ynet, the decision and announcement was coordinated in advance with the United States.

As a reminder, the Israeli Knesset passed legislation repealing the 2005 Disengagement Law in order to clear the way for settlers to reestablish four settlements in the northern West Bank – Homesh, Sa-Nur, Kadim, and Ganim. The IDF then issued a military closure order against three of the settlements, allowing settlers to enter the Homesh area (where settlers had illegally built and continue to run a yeshiva).

Eight Outposts Receive Final Authorization

The Israeli Interior Ministry publicly revealed municipal emblems to eight outposts that the government approved to be legalized, marking the end of the legalization process. In announcing the emblems, Smotrich said:

“We are advancing de facto sovereignty [of the West Bank] on the ground to prevent any possibility of establishing an Arab state in Judea and Samaria.”

Since returning to office in late 2022 (at which time Netanyahu agreed to granting full authorization and state services to all outposts), the Netanyahu-Smotrich government has been advancing the expansion of settlements and the legalization of outposts at an astronomical rate. The Times of Israel reports that: “in total, some 49 new settlements or illegal outposts have been approved for construction or retroactive legalization under the current government. Prior to the tenure of the current administration, which began in late 2022, virtually no new settlements had been approved or outposts legalized since the late 1990s.” In addition to the government’s actions to legalize existing outposts, the government has also fully enabled the establishment of at least 174 new illegal settlements over the past three years according to Peace Now.

The outposts which are now fully legal settlements are:

Sa-Nur: The establishment of a boundary for the Sa-Nur settlement is the culmination of years of agitation by settlers and eager support from Israeli officials to re-establish settlements which the government dismantled in 2005.
Ahiya: The Ahiya outpost received initial government approval in March 2024, when it was included in the expanded borders of the nearby Shilo settlement in the central West Bank. Ahiya is located in an string of settlements that are designed to form an uninterrupted corridor of Israeli control connecting sovereign Israel to the Ariel settlement, through the isolated Shiloh Valley settlements, all the way to the Jordan Valley. In so doing, it will completely bisect the northern part of the West Bank.
Haresha: Located east of Ramallah and surrounded by privately owned Palestinian land, the Israeli government has successfully used the Haresha outpost as a test case for new legal tools to justify the expropriation of privately owned Palestinian land in order to retroactively legalize outposts.
Adei Ad: Located in the Shiloh Valley, the Israeli government announced its plan to retroactively legalize the Adei Ad outpost in August 2018 by expanding the borders of the nearby Amichai settlement (a settlement which was established as a reward to settler law-breakers who evacuated from the unauthorized Amona outpost). The Adei Ad outpost has been a source of violent settlers launching attacks on nearby Palestinian communities, including Turmus Ayya.
Shvut Rachel: Located in the Shiloh Valley, the Israeli government expanded the boarders of the nearby Shilo settlement in order to legalize the Shvut Rachel outpost.
Tel Menashe: located located on the tip of the northern West Bank, inside the “seam zone” between the 1967 Green Line and the Israel separation barrier.
Migron: located south east of Ramallah.
Nofei Prat: located east of Jerusalem.

Netanyahu Denies Report He Ordered 14 Outposts to be Dismantled

On December 6th, Israeli Channel 12 news reported that at a recent security meeting Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the removal of 14 illegal outposts defined as “centers of Jewish extremism and national crime”, a report that Netanyahu quickly denied. The order was reportedly aimed at responding to international criticism of and attention to settler terrorism, and U.S. In addition to evacuating outposts, the report also suggested the security cabinet decided to detain ~70 settlers known to participate in violence against Palestinians and Israeli forces, and issue orders banning 30 of them from the West Bank.

Settlers Removed from Four Outposts, Buildings Remain

On December 7th, Israeli Border Police removed settlers from four illegal outposts that were located in closed military zones across the West Bank. Though the settlers were removed, the outposts – which are not named in reports – have not been dismantled and no buildings were demolished – the IDF even denied that any outposts were “evacuated”, insisting that the army was just enforcing closed military zone orders.

Israel Approves 764 New Settlement Units

On December 10th the Israeli Higher Planning Council gave final approval for the construction of 764 in three settlements across the West Bank, in addition to depositing a plan for public review for 1 additional unit in the Eli settlement.

The final approvals were granted for:

Beitar Illit: 230 new settlement units
Hashmonaim: 478 new settlement units. Hashmonaim located in the northern West Bank just over the Green Line near the Israeli town Mod’in. Over half of the residents of the Hashmonaim settlement are American settlers from New York.
Givat Zeev: 56 new settlement units

Smotrich touted the fact that 51,370 new settlement units have been approved by the Higher Planning Council since his takeover of most municipal powers in the West Bank Area C.

Construction to Begin on Oz Station, Making Way for Expansion of Nof Zion Enclave

Peace Now reports the Israeli Knesset has approved financing for the construction of the new Oz Station, moving the station from its current location on the border of Jabal Mukaber to a site across the street (where it will become a massive Israeli security headquarters). Moving the police station will allow Israel to significantly expand the Nof Zion settlement enclave, located in the heart of the Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal Mukaber.

With the approval of a budget for construction, work on the new station is expected to begin soon.

At the time the plan to move the Oz was introduced Ir Amim filed a petition against it, saying that it is an affront to the planning needs of the local community and continues Israel’s systematic, city-wide discrimination against the housing, educational, and service-based needs of Palestinian neighborhoods. Ir Amim further explained how the interconnected plans in Jabal Mukaber will impact Palestinian residents:

“Expanding the settlement towards the main entrance of Jabal Mukabber will infringe on the residents’ freedom of movement and further disrupt the fabric of life in the neighborhood. Prior experience show that during clashes and periods of tension and instability, Israel rushes to impose collective restrictions under the pretext of protecting Israeli settlers.”

The plan to expand the Nof Zion enclave outlines 100 new residential units and 275 hotel rooms in the settlement enclave, and is part of a larger scheme to connect the enclave to the built-up area of East Talpiot – a scheme which would cut deeply into the Jabal Mukaber neighborhood and entrench the expanding continuum of Israeli settlements surrounding Jerusalem.

IDF Uproots Olives Trees in Qaryut to Make Way for Settlement Road

On December 7th the IDF began destroying agricultural land and uprooting more than 500 olive trees belonging to the Palestinian village of Qaryut, located south of Nablus in the central West Bank and surrounded to the south, east, and west by settlements and outposts.

According to Kerem Navot, the IDF is confiscating privately owned Palestinian land and destroying the groves in order to facilitate the construction of a new ring road for the nearby Eli settlement and its satellite outposts. Residents of Qaryut report to Haaretz that the IDF failed to carry out the required procedure in advance of the destruction, and in so doing did not provide an opportunity for the village to submit an appeal against the confiscation.

In addition, residents of Qaryut say that the destruction has exceeded the boundaries of the land Israel recently confiscated via military order, and the IDF has not only uprooted centuries old olive trees but also destroyed the village’s water wells. Residents also say that the military order provides that the IDF remove the trees and replant them elsewhere, but video footage shows the trees have been severely damaged and are not able to be replanted.

Qaryut is surrounded by six settlements and has been the target of frequent violent attacks, which have continued to escalate in the wake of a new illegal outpost that settlers installed nearby in January 2025. Dror Etkes, founder of the anti-settlement watchdog group Kerem Navot, has documented the explained the terrible situation facing Qaryut saying, “What has been happening in the past few days in the Krayot is yet another example from which we can learn how the monster of settlement and land plunder operates in the West Bank.”

Settlers Enter Gaza & Ministers Press for Gaza Hanukkah Ceremony

Dozens of settlers crossed into Gaza on December 10th in an effort to advance their campaign to build Israeli settlements there. The group, which documented their activities, attempted to plant trees, declaring in a video “all of the Land of Israel is ours.” The IDF detained the group and transferred them back to Israeli police.

Meanwhile, a group of 11 Israeli Ministers and 21 MKs signed a letter to Defense Minister Katz urging him to allow settlers to raise the Israeli flag at the site of a former Gaza settlement Nisanit to mark the upcoming Hanukkah holiday. An anonymous source told The Times of Israel that Minister Katz is unlikely to approve the event. The letter read:

“It is time to proudly affirm that Gaza is part of the Land of Israel, belongs exclusively to the Jewish people, and must therefore immediately become part of the State of Israel….We request an authorization for this event, which is essentially intended to hoist the Israeli flag over the ruins of the town of Nisanit.”

Massive Delegation of U.S. Evangelicals Call for Israeli Annexation of the West Bank

Israel paid for a group of nearly 1,000 American Evangelicals to come to Israel, where the group appears to have been asked and trained to advocate for Israel’s annexation of the West Bank vis a vis Trump and U.S. Congress. The group is being touted as the larges delegation of Christian leaders to visit Israel.

The leaders of the trip was Mike Evans, who is the founder of Jerusalem’s Friends of Zion Museum, and who served on President Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory committee in his first term. Speaking the the group at the Shilo settlement, Evans addressed President Trump and VP Vance, referring to a Bible in his hand Evans said:

“This is more important than you. This is more important than me. This is the word of God, and it’s the reason the president is the president because we mobilized behind him, and we love him. But you said something that is not accurate. You said that the policy of the administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. Mr. Vice President, we love you, and we love America, but the policy of the God who birthed America and the policy of the God who gave these people this land is in fact that Judea and Samaria is Bible land. Eighty percent of Bible stories come out of Judea and Samaria. So don’t pressure Israel to give illegal, radical Islam Jew-haters Judea and Samaria.”

Briefing the group, the head of a Benaymin settler regional council Yisrael Gantz names the delegation as “ambassadors of Judea and Samaria,” asking them:

“Guys, please help us with your representatives in D.C.. Applying Israeli law here is the justice of God. We didn’t take anyone else’s land. We came here because God sent us here, and we have to complete his mission. We will do it together.”

On December 10th, the Foriegn Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing entitled, “Understanding Judea and Samaria: Historical, Strategic, and Political Dynamics in U.S.–Israel Relations” (video). As reported by FMEP’s Lara Friedman in her weekly Legislative Round Up (subscribe):

“Witnesses were: Eugene Kontorovich, Heritage Foundation/Kohelet Forum (statement); Morton Klein, Zionist Organization of America (statement); and Jon Alterman, CSIS (statement) [Center for International Policy’s Matt Duss trenchantly observed on X: “A great demonstration of what “diversity” means in hearings on Israel-Palestine: Zionist, batshit right wing Zionist, and an actual Israeli settler. Imagine a hearing on the history and political dynamics of eastern Ukraine featuring only Russian or pro-Russian witnesses.“]

For details of this hearing — which offered a window into just how deep into Greater Israel, anti-Palestinian, fact-challenged crazy-land some people in this Congress and on this Committee are — watch it for yourself. One note: at around 1:25:30 in the hearing, Rep. Fine (R-FL) launches into a speech alleging the existence of apartheid in the West Bank, based on the fact that when he was traveling there he encountered a sign reading “Jews May Not Enter.” Fine goes on to suggest that these signs represent a Palestinian Authority policy of preventing Jews from accessing certain areas. Of course, Fine knows – or should know, since he presents himself as an expert on all things related to Israel and the West Bank, as does (or should, Mort Klein, who does not correct Fine’s mistake) – that this sign (and the many others like it, placed at the entrance to Palestinian cities and villages across the West Bank), was produced and placed there BY THE GOVERNMENT OF ISRAEL, reflecting an ISRAELI policy that makes it illegal for Israeli citizens to enter Area A of the West Bank [note that Fine is also incorrect in alleging the signs say anything about “Jews.” The signs refer in Hebrew to “Israelis” and in Arabic and English to “citizens of Israel”; Jews who are not citizens of Israel can and do travel into these areas; Israeli citizens who choose to enter these areas are breaking Israeli law, which in the case of settlers goes unpunished, and in the case of Israelis human rights activists, can be one of the many pretexts for Israeli authorities use to detain and/or ban them from the areas]. If Fine has an issue with these signs, it should be with the government of Israel, not with Palestinians. Some receipts: here, here, here.”

Adalah: Israel Has Passed 30 New Apartheid Laws Since October 7th

Adalah published a new report entitled, “Post-7 October: A New Wave of Anti-Palestinian Israeli Laws.” The report analyzes a wave of Israeli laws passed after October 7, 2023 that, collectively and by design, entrench segregation and discrimination against Palestinians living under Israeli control (in Israel, East Jerusalem and the West Bank).

The report details thirty laws that have been enacted, including:

laws that restrict the freedom of movement, thought, expression, and protest;
Laws that infringe on family reunification and change residency and citizenship access;
Laws that undermine due process and prisoners’ rights; and more.

Adalah writes in conclusion:

“A legal system organized along ethnic lines that denies fundamental rights to a racial group constitutes a crime under the 1973 Apartheid Convention. The laws analyzed in this report demonstrate the entrenchment of a dual legal regime which privileges Jewish Israelis by design, while systematically violating the rights of Palestinians. However, unlike regimes of segregation and racial or ethnic supremacy known throughout history, such as apartheid in South Africa, Jim Crow in the United States, or the Protestant Ascendancy regime in Ireland from the 17th to the early 19th century, where identity-based criteria (ethnic, racial, religious, etc.) were explicitly enshrined in law, most of the legislation examined in this report uses neutral language that, in practice, operates as proxies for ethno-national identity, systematically targeting Palestinians…

Taken together, the body of laws passed over the past two years indicate that the Israeli legislature is acting without restraint to impose far-reaching restrictions on Palestinians while further entrenching infringements of their rights. In doing so, the Knesset has and continues to ingrain recognition of Jewish citizens as the sole collective entitled to the full spectrum of individual and collective rights, and to further codify in Israeli law a regime of Jewish ethno-national supremacy, as explicitly and constitutionally enshrined in the 2018 Jewish Nation-State Law.”

Israel Human Rights Groups Issue “State of the Occupation” Report

In it’s third report, a coalition of twelve Israeli human rights organizations have published a sweeping and comprehensive report on human rights violations resulting from Israel’s 58-year occupation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank as well as its current war on Gaza.

The authors urge:

“Public discourse surrounding the injustices of the occupation and the grave crimes associated with it is at best absent, and often violent and inflammatory. Crimes are rarely investigated by military or civilian law enforcement. In the absence of a resolute systemic response, there is little to prevent these wrongs from escalating, as evidenced by the continued destruction of infrastructure and buildings in Gaza even during the ceasefire, and the rampant violence in the West Bank.

The information presented in this report was rigorously gathered, verified, and cross-checked through sustained efforts. It is difficult to read and absorb. Still, we hope you will engage with it and join us in calling for action and for redressing the injustices it exposes.”

Bonus Reads

More on Sebastia:
- “Israel preparing largest ever act of ‘archeological cleansing’ in West Bank” (+972 Magazine, 12/11/2025)
- “An ancient Palestinian town in the West Bank may soon no longer exist – because Israel plans on stealing it” (Mondoweiss, 12/12/2025)
“New Israeli settlement in West Bank town near Bethlehem threatens the Christian presence in Palestine” (Mondoweiss, 12/11/2025)
“Knesset to Debate New NGO Bill, Seen as Targeting Israeli Human Rights Organizations” (Haaretz, 12/11/25)
“I used to report from the West Bank. Twenty years after my last visit, I was shocked by how much worse it is today” (The Guardian, 12/11/25)