JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL

Israel ordered the deportation of 32 foreign activists on Wednesday for their support to olive-harvesting Palestinians against settler violence in the occupied West Bank.

A statement by Interior Minister Yariv Levin and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said the activists will be deported over suspicion of affiliation with "Union of Agricultural Work Committees," a non-governmental organization that supports Palestinian farmers, during a protest last week.

A 99-year entry ban has also been imposed on the activists, the statement said, without specifying the nationalities of the activists.

The deportation order came upon a request from Yossi Dagan, the head of the Settlements Council in the northern West Bank.

Founded in 1986, the “Union of Agricultural Work Committees” is the largest non-governmental agricultural development organization in the West Bank to support Palestinian farmers against Israeli restrictions.

Separately, the Israeli army arrested 45 Palestinians in military raids across the West Bank.

A statement by the Palestinian Prisoner Society NGO said that 30 people were detained in Hebron, and 15 others in other cities, where army forces assaulted families of detainees and damaged their properties.

More than 10,000 Palestinian prisoners, including children and women, are currently held in Israeli prisons, where they reportedly face torture, starvation, and medical neglect, resulting in the deaths of many, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights and media reports.

Israeli attacks have escalated across the occupied West Bank since October 2023, killing more than 1,056 Palestinians, injuring 10,300, and detaining over 20,000 others, according to Palestinian figures.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.