"Israel's army has become a vehicle for violent settlers to escalate their campaign against Palestinians across the occupied West Bank, with reserve units drawn from settlements functioning as vigilante militias, according to Israeli soldiers and activists, and the United Nations. Hagmar, or regional defence units, were set up across the West Bank from October 2023, as conscripts and the standing army deployed there prepared to move to Gaza."
"Formally they are under the battalion commander and his deputy, but on the ground they are given a free hand, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The senior command looks the other way when incidents happen. They don't respond to any command. His unit was often called to incidents by Israeli activists supporting Palestinians. When they arrived, they usually found settler reservists already at the scene, sometimes joining attacks on Palestinians."
Hagmar regional defence units were created across the West Bank from October 2023 and consist largely of settler reservists armed and paid by the state. The system handed weapons and authority to thousands of settlers who formed military units within their communities and often operate in parallel to regular battalions with few checks. Senior commanders frequently ignore incidents and hagmar units sometimes arrive ahead of regular soldiers. Reports describe daily violence including vandalism, theft, intimidation, careless weapons handling, and incidents in which settler reservists joined attacks on Palestinians. Some hagmar forces have been implicated in more extreme violence, including killings.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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