Israel has issued 49 military orders targeting 2,093 dunams (517 acres) of privately owned Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank since January, the Palestinian Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission said Saturday.
It said the orders, issued under “security measures,” do not formally confiscate the land or transfer ownership. They impose sweeping legal and physical restrictions, however, by allowing the removal or trimming of trees, restricting access to the land, and preventing its cultivation. The commission said the measures are mainly concentrated around Israeli settlements, settlement roads, the separation barrier and military sites, effectively expanding Israeli control over Palestinian land without formally changing ownership.
Israel issued 47 orders covering 1,613 dunams during 2025, compared with 49 orders affecting 2,093 dunams in the first half of 2026, according to the commission. It said the increase reflects growing use of such military orders to expand settlement-related infrastructure and tighten restrictions on Palestinian access to their land.