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JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel has barred a dozen Jewish settlers from the occupied West Bank for a period of up to a year, a step Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pledged to take to rein in violence against Palestinians, officials and Israeli media reports said.

A statement issued on Thursday by Israel's military said police "delivered administrative restraining orders" to 12 people described as "Jewish extremists" from the territory.

It said these men were suspected of involvement in violence targeting Palestinians and Israeli forces, and described the orders issued as a "preventative measure to remove the threat by the activists in the area."

One of the men has been barred from the territory for a year, the rest for periods of three to nine months, a military spokeswoman said, and declined to provide further details.

Israeli media reports said the settlers named in the orders lived at four Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank: Yitzhar, Havat Gilad, Elon Moreh, and Ramat Migron.

Netanyahu had said a month ago, in response to a string of arson attacks blamed on the so-called "Price Tag" group, that a list of administrative measures was being considered to prevent further violence.

Israeli police have in the past arrested suspects in these attacks but none have been charged.

Israel has built more than 100 settlements in the territory, and settlers have additionally built dozens of outposts not authorized by the Israeli government.

The international community regards all settlements built on occupied land to be illegal, while the Israel government distinguishes between state-sponsored settlement and unauthorized outposts.

The Likud-led coalition government has sought to calm violent confrontation with radical settlers after an Israeli high court ruled against a number of outposts in August.

Citing the 'price tag' policy of revenge against settlement restrictions, extreme settlers clashed with troops and vandalized military bases in the West Bank, and rampaged through four mosques in December, covering them in racist slogans and burning interiors.

Settler attacks in the West Bank against Palestinians have increased by more than 50 percent this year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

In December, Hebrew press said the Israeli government had asked the Supreme Court for a delay in evacuating the outposts in order to resolve the issue "peacefully".