Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the evacuation of outposts in the occupied West Bank, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was reported by AFP as saying on Sunday.
Mr Netanyahu ordered the illegal settler outposts to be dismantled under US pressure to crack down on settler violence, Reuters reported. The order applies to outposts established by settlers without the state's official authorisation.
Outposts typically consist of caravans with a small number of settlers. The state has occasionally demolished them, but also recognised others, granting them access to government funding.
Israeli media outlets had also reported Mr Netanyahu had made the order, with Ynet reporting about 100 outposts would be affected. It was not immediately clear when the operation would begin.
UN agencies and most governments consider all Israeli settlements illegal under international law and consider the West Bank to be occupied territory under military control. Israel says the territory is disputed, not occupied.
Calling the violent settlers "terrorists", US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Saturday said they should face serious consequences. The comments came after he met Palestinian Americans in a West Bank town.
Mr Huckabee said it was important to “continue to put the pressure” to argue the “few people” who commit those acts are detrimental “not just to the people who live in the West Bank; it's detrimental to everyone, Israeli, Palestinian alike”.
The Israeli government has previously said a "fringe minority" was responsible for settler violence, although human rights groups have disputed that.
Mr Smotrich, himself a settler, said during a conference in Jerusalem that Mr Netanyahu gave “an instruction to evict places built in Areas A and B”, referring to parts of the West Bank in which most Palestinians live.
There are 340 outposts in the West Bank and 146 settlements recognised by the Israeli government, according to data from Peace Now, an Israeli organisation that advocates for a two-state solution.
More than 500,000 Israelis make up the West Bank population, alongside about three million Palestinians who represent 85 per cent of the area's population.
Dozens of masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian homes in the villages of Qusra and Jalud last month, drawing condemnation from Mr Netanyahu.
The Israeli Prime Minister's office and military did not immediately return The National's requests for comment.
