Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has publicly praised the Hilltop Youth (a radical religious Zionist settler movement) for 'holding onto' occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank. The remarks came as Israeli settlers moved into Ganim, an illegal West Bank settlement that Israel itself dismantled in 2005. The endorsement by a senior cabinet minister of settlers reoccupying previously evacuated land signals a significant hardening of Israel's official stance toward illegal outposts.