Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday threw his weight behind raids spearheaded by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in the Negev (Naqab) region of southern Israel, where thousands of Palestinian Bedouin are facing displacement.
Speaking on a tour of the area, Netanyahu described the region as "out of control", and vowed to impose Israeli rule in the area.
“The Negev is out of control,” Netanyahu said. “We will rein it in, and an important operation by the Israeli Police has already begun, in conjunction with other forces.”
Netanyahu's tour of the area comes amid raids on Palestinian communities by Israel's 'National Guard' - a police force established by Ben-Gvir and seen by many as the minister's personal militia.
On Sunday, National Guard forces shot and killed a Palestinian man from the Bedouin village of al-Tarabin - a killing which his family said was carried out "without cause".
The raids on Bedouin communities have been touted as an attempt to tackle criminal gangs in the area.
Palestinians and rights groups have long accused Israel's government of allowing criminal gangs to operate in Palestinian communities within Israel, taking little action against organised crime.
The latest raids by Israeli forces, however, have been slammed as an act of collective punishment against the Palestinians of the Negev, many of whom live in communities not recognised by the Israeli government with constant threat of displacement.
According to Israeli media, Bedouin communities had hoped that Netanyahu would intervene to prevent the collective punishment of Palestinians in the Negev.
During the visit to the region, Netanyahu, who was accompanied by Defence Minister Israel Katz, affirmed that Israel would be treating the criminal problem as a national security issue, saying that there are "tens of thousands of weapons [in the region], drones crossing borders and other threats".
The victims of criminality in Palestinian communities in Israel are largely Palestinian, with 225 having been murdered in 2025.
Netanyahu, who is wanted by the ICC for war crimes in Gaza, also pledged to advance "settlement on a scale we have never known, including regularization for Bedouin residents".
Katz reiterated Netanayhu's remarks on Jewish settlements, saying that their building "strengthens sovereignty, and strengthens our hold on the land".
The ministers' visit also came amid increased tensions between Jewish and Palestinian communities, with Israeli President Isaac Herzog saying relations had reached a "state of emergency".
Israel’s more than 200,000 Bedouin are the poorest members of the country’s Palestinian minority, which also includes Christian and Muslim urban communities.
Israel’s Palestinian population makes up roughly 20 percent of the country’s 10 million people. While they are citizens with the right to vote, they are frequently subjected to discrimination in all sectors of life, including housing and employment.
The Bedouin sector has grappled with crime and poverty, and about one-third of its members live in villages that the Israeli government considers "illegal".
Israel says it is trying to bring order to a lawless area, but Bedouin leaders accuse the government of neglect, trying to destroy their way of life or pushing to relocate them to less desirable areas.