Privatizing Terrorism: How the “Hilltop Youth” Have Been Transformed into Technological Militias in the West Bank
1/8/2026 – Union for Justice Foundation
The Union for Justice Foundation stated that the occupied Palestinian territory has recently witnessed an extremely dangerous structural transformation in the nature of attacks targeting Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank. Settler violence is no longer confined to individual initiatives or isolated acts committed by extremist groups; rather, it has become part of an organized system that enjoys government support, funding, and sponsorship as part of a policy aimed at consolidating control over the land and altering the demographic and geographical reality of the occupied Palestinian territory.
Based on its field monitoring and documented findings, the Foundation notes that the Israeli occupation government has allocated a budget of 5.5 million shekels to support pastoral and agricultural settlement outposts, including their development, consolidation, and expansion. The Foundation considers this funding to constitute direct backing for extremist settler groups, foremost among them the Hilltop Youth, which have increasingly assumed an organized operational role in attacking Palestinians and seizing land.
This support is not limited to financial funding. It also extends to the provision of weapons and military equipment, direct protection for these groups while carrying out their attacks, and the establishment of channels for field coordination with the Israeli occupation forces, ensuring the continuation of their activities without effective accountability. The available information further indicates that financial allowances are provided to settlers residing in certain settlement outposts, enabling them to devote themselves fully to expanding settlement activities and imposing new realities on the ground.
The most dangerous development lies in the introduction of advanced technological means into the activities of these groups. The Israeli occupation authorities have begun supplying settlers with unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and training them in their use for surveillance and reconnaissance operations. As a result, many settlement outposts are being transformed into advanced observation posts capable of continuously monitoring Palestinian movements and tracking daily activities in and around Palestinian villages and towns, thereby strengthening field control and imposing a new security reality.
The Foundation affirms that the use of drones by civilian settler groups constitutes an unprecedented escalation, given that it entails violations of the privacy of Palestinian civilians through the continuous surveillance of their homes and lands. Moreover, these technologies are being employed to direct attacks on the ground and expand territorial control, effectively transforming these groups into armed technological militias operating with the direct backing of the Israeli occupation authorities.
This transformation has been reflected in the nature of attacks throughout the West Bank. The settler no longer appears merely as a traditional shepherd but now operates with advanced weapons and modern communication equipment integrated with aerial surveillance systems and drones. The activities of these groups have also expanded to include the unlawful closure of roads, obstructing the movement of civilians, and targeting Palestinian workers on their way to their workplaces by setting up ambushes, threatening vehicles, and carrying out attacks against them, thereby creating a constant atmosphere of intimidation and undermining the basic conditions of daily life.
In this context, the Foundation notes that the nighttime attacks carried out by these groups have become more organized and coordinated. One of the latest incidents targeted the village of Umm al-Khair, south of Hebron, leaving several Palestinian civilians injured while taking place under the direct protection of the Israeli occupation forces. This reflects the level of coordination that exists between the regular military forces and the armed settler groups.
The Foundation considers that these practices—including the use of drones, road closures, the targeting of workers and farmers, and attacks on Palestinian villages—form part of a systematic policy aimed at exerting the maximum possible pressure on the Palestinian population, weakening their ability to remain on their land, and forcing them into displacement, particularly in Area C, thereby facilitating settlement expansion and the replacement of the Palestinian population with settlers.
The Foundation emphasizes that what is taking place goes far beyond isolated acts of violence and instead reflects an organized pattern of government support for settler groups carrying out attacks against civilians, requiring urgent international action. In this regard, the Foundation calls upon the United Nations, the United Nations Security Council, and the relevant international organizations to move beyond statements of condemnation and adopt practical measures, including imposing sanctions on the individuals and entities involved in financing and supporting these groups, ending government funding allocated to settlement outposts, withdrawing the weapons, military equipment, and drones supplied to settlers, and ensuring effective international protection for Palestinians, particularly workers, farmers, and shepherds in the targeted areas.
The Union for Justice Foundation also calls upon the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to open an urgent investigation into the policies of supporting and arming settler groups, and to examine the responsibility of Israeli political and military leaders for these practices, as part of a systematic policy that may, in light of international humanitarian law and the Rome Statute, amount to crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the Court.
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