A new report from the Civil Administration’s Supervision Unit, released Monday summarizing the first half of 2026, reveals a dramatic increase in enforcement and demolitions of illegal ‘Palestinian’ construction across Judea and Samaria in recent years. The trend has accelerated under the policies of Minister Bezalel Smotrich, with consistent increases in supervision and enforcement activity on the ground.
According to data comparing the first half of each year, 250 illegal structures were demolished in 2022. That figure fell slightly to 201 in 2023 amid the war before climbing again to 310 structures in 2024. The pace accelerated significantly in 2025, with 443 demolitions, before reaching a record 536 illegal structures demolished during the first half of 2026—more than double the number recorded during the equivalent period in 2022.
1+A Defense Ministry division also pointed to a growing trend of ‘Palestinians’ demolishing illegal structures themselves in order to avoid enforcement action. Smotrich, under whose authority the Defense Ministry division operates, welcomed the figures and said they reflect a deliberate shift in Israeli policy.
For years, Smotrich said, Israel stood by while the Salam Fayyad plan sought to establish facts on the ground and force the creation of a “Palestinian” state through the takeover of state land and systematic, large-scale construction in Area C. He also highlighted the government’s broader actions in Judea and Samaria, saying that since the beginning of the current government’s term, it has led a revolution in the region.
Those efforts include the establishment of 104 new communities and 160 ranches protecting more than one million dunams of state land, alongside what Smotrich described as an uncompromising campaign against the Arab takeover of territory. “We are changing the equation,” Smotrich declared.
1+He concluded by thanking the Civil Administration’s Supervision Unit and Infrastructure Division for what he described as their dedicated and professional work implementing government policy on the ground.
For Smotrich and the government, the numbers represent more than an enforcement record: they signal a fundamental shift from watching illegal construction reshape Area C to actively defending Israel’s state lands. With demolitions more than doubling since 2022, Jerusalem is making clear that attempts to establish irreversible facts on the ground in Judea and Samaria will increasingly meet facts of a very different kind.