Israeli government plans to fund extremist occupier group in occupied West Bank with $1.89M: Report

The Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to allocate 5.5 million shekels ($1.89 million) in state funding to the extremist occupier group known as the “Hilltop Youth,” the Yedioth Ahronoth daily said Monday.

The newspaper said the budget was outlined in a document issued by the Settlement and National Missions Ministry, headed by Minister Orit Strock, which will oversee the transfer of funds through regional settlement councils in the occupied West Bank.

The funding plan is scheduled to run from June through the end of the year and totals 5.5 million shekels, it added.

According to the newspaper, each member of the Hilltop Youth movement would receive the equivalent of approximately $550 per month to help cover food, clothing and living expenses for more than 650 youths living in hilltop outposts and pastoral settlement sites across the occupied West Bank.

The Hilltop Youth is an occupier movement whose members primarily live in unauthorized settlement outposts in the West Bank and are known for opposing efforts to evacuate them.

The group has frequently been linked to attacks against Palestinians and is considered the ideological nucleus of the extremist “Price Tag” movement, which has carried out retaliatory attacks against Palestinians and their property.

Founded in 1998, the movement is largely composed of Israeli occupiers aged between 16 and 26, who left their homes and schools to live in illegal settlement outposts built on hilltops overlooking Palestinian communities.

The group is considered an offshoot of the extremist movement Gush Emunim, which advocates expanded Jewish settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories.

According to Israeli and Palestinian rights groups, violence by Israeli occupiers in the occupied West Bank has increased significantly in recent years, including attacks on Palestinian communities, farmland and property.

Since Oct. 8, 2023, at least 1,169 Palestinians have been killed, 12,666 injured, around 23,000 arrested and approximately 33,000 displaced in the occupied West Bank amid intensified Israeli military operations and occupier attacks, according to Palestinian figures.

*Writing by Sahin Demir in Istanbul.