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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers on Thursday began construction on a new illegal outpost near the Zatara checkpoint, a Palestinian Authority official said.

Israeli settlement monitor Ghassan Daghlas said settlers erected 10 mobile homes surrounded by fencing, which were then hooked up to residents' water and electricity supply, PA news agency WAFA reported. The new site is near the Elon Moreh settlement, he said.

Head of the Israeli settlement movement for the Nablus area Gershon Miska has moved his offices to the site, he added. The land belongs to the Khbeisa family, Daghlas said.

Daghlas told WAFA it was not the first attempt by settlers to erect an outpost on the land.

The outpost has been named Evitar after the settler who was stabbed to death last Tuesday by a Palestinian man near the Zatara checkpoint.

Israeli forces closed the checkpoint into the village following the stabbing, after settlers ascended on the area in response to the death.