"We are building the Land of Israel and destroying the idea of a Palestinian state", Smotrich, who also oversees civilian affairs in the West Bank through the defense ministry, declared.
The operation is the latest in a series of such actions in recent months. Bulldozers uprooted some 2,500 trees in September, followed by more than 6,000 in December.
Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din, which documents violence against Palestinians, condemned the move.
"The state supports illegal settlements that are a source of Israeli violence against Palestinians, while combining that crime with another — cutting down thousands of olive trees solely because they belong to Palestinians, thereby permanently destroying the livelihood of thousands of people", the group said in a statement.
The destruction of olive trees — many of them centuries old — is among the most common forms of violence against Palestinians, carried out by both Jewish settlers and Israeli authorities.
Last August, the Israeli military uprooted 30 hectares of olive groves in the village of Al-Mughayyir as collective punishment following a shooting incident involving one of its residents.
(jh)
Source: Polish Radio