Ben Gvir decides to arm an additional 100,000 settlers in the West Bank.

The Minister of National Security in the occupying government, the extremist Itamar Ben Gvir, on Monday approved the expansion of his controversial policy aimed at arming settlers, allowing about 100,000 additional settlers to obtain private gun licenses, a move that observers see as adding fuel to the fire of "settler terrorism" raging in the occupied West Bank.

A statement from Ben Gvir's office indicated that new settlements and towns have been added to the list of areas eligible for gun licenses, opening the door for tens of thousands of settlers to carry weapons legally.

Ben Gvir launched an intensive policy of arming settlers at the end of 2023, coinciding with the start of the genocide war waged by the occupying army on the Gaza Strip. According to figures from his office, about 230,000 new licenses for carrying firearms have been issued since then, a huge number that reflects the premeditated intention to place weapons in the hands of as many settlers as possible.

This policy comes under full political and legal cover from the occupying government, which encourages and supports settler attacks as a tool to implement plans for forced displacement and the seizure of Palestinian land.

Ben Gvir's new decision is directly linked to the alarming increase in the pace of terrorist attacks by settlers, in which firearms are used almost daily against unarmed Palestinian citizens in the cities and villages of the West Bank.

According to documented data, the month of July alone witnessed 466 terrorist attacks by settlers, resulting in the martyrdom of 4 citizens. These attacks also caused the forced displacement of 50 Palestinian families (267 individuals) from the Arab al-Malih and Deir Alla communities.

The crimes of the settlers did not stop there, as 232 acts of vandalism and theft of citizens' property were recorded during the same month, including the uprooting, destruction, and poisoning of 2,844 trees, of which 2,647 were olive trees, representing an open war on the livelihoods of Palestinians and their existence on their land.