Israeli soldiers who served in the occupied West Bank said occupiers in army-affiliated regional defense units increasingly act as an "independent force" and exert control on the ground, while senior military commanders seek to appease them, the daily Haaretz said Sunday.
Since October 2023, the Israeli army has increasingly relied on reserve units composed of local occupiers to protect illegal settlements and their surroundings in the occupied West Bank.
Soldiers told Haaretz that despite being formally subordinate to the army, members of the units increasingly determine what happens on the ground.
A reserve officer identified as G., who commanded a platoon in the South Hebron Hills in 2024, said occupiers from a nearby settlement outpost repeatedly raided the homes of Palestinian families in surrounding villages.
"They'd go in, sit in their living rooms and make a mess," he said.
The officer said he and his soldiers went to one home after receiving a report from a Palestinian family about an occupier attack. When he ordered the occupiers to leave, they unleashed a dog that attempted to bite him.
A man accompanying the occupiers, who identified himself as a regional defense battalion member and the owner of the nearby outpost, threatened that the occupiers would accuse the officer of sexual harassment if he filed a complaint with his commanders.
The officer said the entire incident was recorded by his camera, but he received no support from senior commanders after reporting it.
"The brigade commander called the occupier to appease him," he said, adding that the commander was unwilling to speak with him.
His battalion commanders later arranged a reconciliation meeting and defended the regional defense personnel's activities as "important," according to the officer.
The incident occurred four days before the end of his reserve duty. The officer said he ultimately decided against filing a formal complaint because of the lack of support from the brigade command.
Haaretz said testimonies from other commanders and soldiers who have served in the West Bank since October 2023, pointed to an increasingly blurred line between the army and regional units comprising occupiers called up for reserve duty.
The soldiers, including two who also testified to Breaking the Silence, an Israeli organization founded by former combat soldiers, said members of the units "operate as an independent force."
Army battalions tasked with commanding occupier units either struggle or are reluctant to impose limits on their conduct, the soldiers said.
According to the testimonies, soldiers attempting to enforce military orders sometimes face threats and assault, while senior commanders prefer to appease the occupiers.
A reserve commander identified as D. questioned the stated purpose of his unit's deployment, saying it made only about two arrests of Palestinians for alleged Hamas links in Hebron during its entire tour.
Most of the soldiers' time was spent dealing with occupiers seeking confrontations, he said, adding that troops repeatedly moved from one occupier-related incident to another while the occupiers disregarded their authority.
Another soldier who served in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc said members of the occupier units frequently reached confrontation sites before regular army forces without reporting their movements over military radio.
Rather than attempting to de-escalate the situation, they were often involved in the confrontation itself, he said.
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 around 12,500 attacks across the occupied West Bank since the Gaza war in October 2023, killing 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.
