IDF: Settler accused of attack to be freed from house arrest, barred from West Bank

A suspect in a shocking attack on Palestinians in March will no longer be under house arrest but will be barred from entering any areas of the West Bank except for the community of Modiin Illit, IDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth said on Monday.

The order came after a court ruling on Sunday rejected Bluth’s attempt to stop Tal Yinon Dardik from serving house arrest in his illegal outpost of Kfar Tarfon in the West Bank’s Area B.

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A statement from the Israel Defense Forces said that in light of the court ruling, Dardik will no longer be restricted to a specific area but will be barred from entering the rest of the West Bank and required to report to the local police station twice a day.

Dardik had been staying with his mother-in-law in the central West Bank settlement of Adei Ad, but the court found this untenable because she did not want him in the house.

Dardik has allegedly taken part in extremist violence, including in the northern West Bank village of Khirbet Humsa on March 13, when settlers reportedly bound Palestinians of all ages, stripped a man, zip-tied his genitals and paraded him around the village. Dardik denies taking part in the attack.

Amid Bluth’s attempts to restrict Dardik’s movements due to his alleged participation in the attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered officials not to renew his detention, and called on the IDF to find an alternative solution. Katz then vowed on a TV show to replace Bluth, sparking widespread outcry and leading the defense minister to attempt to backtrack from his remarks.

Settler violence has mounted in recent years, with near-daily, sometimes deadly attacks taking place throughout the West Bank, but few suspects arrested and charged. Critics accuse the government of condoning or even encouraging the attacks.

Shin Bet figures from earlier this year found that three times more Palestinians were victims of nationalist attacks in the West Bank than Jews.

The military recorded 867 incidents of nationalist crime and settler violence in 2025, up from 682 incidents in 2024.

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