Baku: Israeli soldiers who served in the occupied West Bank have reported that occupiers in army-affiliated regional defense units are increasingly acting as an 'independent force' and exerting control on the ground, while senior military commanders seek to appease them, the daily Haaretz reported.
According to Anadolu Agency, since October 2023, the Israeli army has relied more heavily on reserve units composed of local occupiers to protect illegal settlements and their surrounding areas in the occupied West Bank. Soldiers have indicated that, despite being formally subordinate to the army, members of these units are increasingly determining actions on the ground.
A reserve officer, identified as G., who commanded a platoon in the South Hebron Hills in 2024, revealed that occupiers from a nearby settlement outpost repeatedly raided the homes of Palestinian families in surrounding villages. The officer recounted an incident where, after receiving a report of an occupier attack, he ordered the occupiers to leave a Palestinian home, only to have a dog unleashed on him. Additionally, a man accompanying the occupiers, who claimed to be a regional defense battalion member, threatened to accuse the officer of sexual harassment if he reported the incident.
Despite having recorded the entire incident, the officer received no support from senior commanders after reporting it. His battalion commanders later arranged a reconciliation meeting and defended the regional defense personnel's activities as 'important,' leading the officer to ultimately decide against filing a formal complaint.
Haaretz noted that testimonies from other commanders and soldiers serving in the West Bank since October 2023 point to an increasingly blurred line between the army and regional units comprising occupiers called up for reserve duty. Soldiers reported that army battalions, tasked with commanding occupier units, either struggle or are reluctant to impose limits on their conduct, with senior commanders preferring to appease the occupiers.
A reserve commander, identified as D., questioned the purpose of his unit's deployment, noting that during their tour in Hebron, they made only two arrests of Palestinians for alleged Hamas links. Most of the soldiers' time was spent dealing with occupiers seeking confrontations, moving from one incident to another while the occupiers disregarded their authority.
Another soldier serving in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc reported that members of the occupier units frequently reached confrontation sites before regular army forces, often involving themselves in the confrontations rather than attempting de-escalation.
According to Haaretz, the Israeli army has recruited around 5,500 West Bank occupiers into regional units to serve as reservists inside illegal settlements and near Palestinian villages since October 2023. Israeli occupiers have carried out approximately 12,500 attacks across the occupied West Bank since the Gaza war in October 2023, resulting in the deaths of 82 Palestinians, starting 890 fires, and establishing 200 illegal settlement outposts, according to the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission.
During the same period, attacks by the Israeli army and occupiers in the West Bank have killed more than 1,182 Palestinians, injured around 13,000, and led to the arrest of 24,600 others, according to official Palestinian figures.