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Katz shifts West Bank policing
Israel’s defense minister on Friday ordered the military to prepare a plan to transfer civilian law enforcement in the West Bank to the Israel Police, his ministry said, after the army faced criticism over its handling of Israeli settlers who besieged a Palestinian home in the village of Qusra.
“ordered the military to prepare a plan to transfer civilian law enforcement in the West Bank to the Israel Police”
Haaretz said the plan would move civilian law enforcement and public order involving the Israeli population from the IDF to the police, and the Jerusalem Post reported Katz’s instruction in the context of “Katz to transfer West Bank civilian enforcement to police.”
The Jerusalem Post also said the IDF would probe soldiers’ conduct in Kusra and investigate “time taken to evacuate extremists,” while noting that Katz ordered the IDF to prepare the transfer plan after “Kusra chaos.”
Ynetnews reported that Katz told the IDF to prepare a plan to transfer all law enforcement powers over Israeli citizens to the police, adding that Katz said, “Full responsibility for enforcing civil matters and maintaining law and order will be transferred to the police.”
Criticism and competing claims
Ynetnews said senior military-law experts sharply criticized Katz’s claims, calling his statement “a populist deception” and arguing that the police already have enforcement powers but are not using them because of the “commander's spirit” set by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Katz’s proposed plan would shift responsibility for civilian law enforcement and public order involving the Israeli population in the West Bank from the IDF to the police, while also describing an IDF military operation in Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus in the West Bank, on August 12, 2026.
Al-Jazeera Net said Palestinian Authority Deputy Chairman Hussein Al-Sheikh condemned Katz’s decision as “a flagrant violation of international law, UN resolutions, signed agreements,” and said it was a “new attempt to impose Israeli law and sovereignty over the occupied West Bank.”
Al-Jazeera Net also quoted Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian Initiative Movement, saying the decision “effectively marks the start of annexing the occupied West Bank,” and linked the move to Katz’s aim of releasing the Israeli army from restraining settlers and their attacks.
Violations, sieges, and next steps
Al-Jazeera Net tied Katz’s announcement to a rise in Israeli violations and settler attacks in Nablus and Hebron, and described Israeli forces preventing several Israeli and foreign demonstrators from reaching three homes under siege by settlers for about a week in the town of Qusra, south of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank.
“three homes under siege by settlers for about a week in the town of Qusra”
The outlet said Qusra mayor Abdul-Azeem Wadi reported that occupation forces prevented demonstrators from reaching the homes inhabited by about 15 Palestinians including two children, while settlers continued to besiege the families and block aid and basic necessities.
In the same reporting, Al-Jazeera Net said Channel 12 reported that settlers set up a tent again in Qusra despite the army sending an extra battalion to the area, and it described earlier settler actions including closing access roads with stones and cutting water and electricity supply.
Ynetnews said Katz argued the IDF lacks the capacity to enforce civil matters in the West Bank, and quoted Katz saying, “The police will prepare and establish an appropriate force to handle civil matters, and will be granted all the necessary powers and budgets.”
