Israeli security forces on Monday evacuated the unauthorized outpost of Tzur Misgavi, located southeast of the city of Efrat in Judea’s Gush Etzion region, displacing 25 families, Hebrew media reported.

Hundreds of Israelis rushed to the Judean hill on Monday morning in an attempt to stop the evacuation. Four teenagers were detained when they blocked demolition equipment at the site, according to local reports.

Daniella Weiss, chairwoman of the Nachala Settlement Movement, had called on the public to come and prevent the destruction of the outpost.

The NGO, which seeks to establish new Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, slammed the move as an “attack on Hilltop Youth.”

“While our enemies are trying to undermine our hold on the Land, it is precisely the government that is directing tools and efforts against the pioneers of settlement,” the group noted, calling it a “dangerous move that harms the very heart of the Jewish presence in the Land of Israel.”

The Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration claimed the demolition was ordered by Israel Defense Forces Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth “following the fact that criminal activity and serious incidents of crime and violence [occurred] at the site, which affected the security of the area.”

The Civil Administration said the IDF and other Israeli security bodies would continue to take actions against unauthorized construction in Judea and Samaria, which it said harms “the security and public order of all residents of the area.”

Israel National News reported that Tzur Misgavi was established some two years ago on “survey land,” whose ownership is unclear but which could later be declared state property. Residents managed to halt the illegal expansion of Sa’ir, a nearby Arab village, according to INN.

Yaron Rosenthal, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, voiced his support for what he described as a “painful but necessary” evacuation.

“It is impossible to develop Gush Etzion when a handful of people take over hundreds of dunams and build makeshift structures exactly on the land designated for the construction of thousands of housing units for the next generation,” Rosenthal said.

“Pirate construction in an area that is facing no threat whatsoever harms neighboring communities, blocks the planned access road, and creates complete anarchy—including the private sale of land by people who do not own it,” he said. “This is not how you build a community, and it is certainly not how you bring a million Jews to Judea and Samaria.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism Party), who oversees the Civil Administration as part of his second role in the Defense Ministry, said Rosenthal had requested the evacuation.

The Gush Etzion Regional Council “is currently advancing, together with the Civil Administration, plans for thousands of housing units,” tweeted Smotrich on Monday afternoon, accusing the illegal outpost’s residents of “undermining the ability to develop thousands of housing units.

“There has been ongoing dialogue recently between the residents who went up there and the council; we all hope it will end in agreements,” added the finance minister.

Residents of the nearby community of Metzad condemned Rosenthal in an open letter, accusing him of harming attempts to settle Gush Etzion.

“Residents purchased homes or started building them in complete good faith, and are subjected to a painfully absurd situation today,” they said, urging Rosenthal to support a planning and zoning procedure without “harming residents who have been living in their homes for years.”

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