Israeli government ministers support movement to resettle Gaza and ‘reduce’ its population

This week on the Gaza border, Yitzhak Goldknopf, the leader of Israel’s strictly Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, examined a map of potential Jewish settlements in the strip.

At his side was Daniella Weiss, a radical settler from the West Bank leader who last week was reportedly smuggled into the Palestinian enclave by soldiers to visit the country she hopes will soon become her home.

More than a year after the IDF invaded Gaza following the October 7 attack, the Israeli far right wants to reestablish Jewish communities in the territory.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been expelled from the northern Gaza Strip in recent months, while Israeli Finance Minister Belazel Smotrich insisted the enclave’s population could be “cut” in half in two years.

According to a poll conducted by Israel’s Mitvim Institute in September, 29 percent of Israelis favor reestablishing settlements in Gaza.

At a conference on the territory’s border in October, senior ministers and several Likud members of the Knesset expressed support for the policy.

“Today I visited the settlements in the Gaza Strip,” Goldknopf said Thursday.

“Jewish settlement here is the response to the terrible massacre and the response to the International Criminal Court in The Hague which, instead of dealing with the 101 hostages, chose to issue arrest warrants against the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense.”

Photos showed Goldknopf, who has not entered Gaza, examining the enclave with binoculars.

The Nachala Settlement movement, led by Weiss, later thanked the strictly Orthodox politician for his support.

“Together we will build Jewish towns in Gaza, which will lower apartment prices in the country, understanding that without settlements there is no security. Our Gaza, forever,” they said.

Speaking to the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, KanLast week, Weiss said his supporters would not wait for permission to settle in Gaza.

“As soon as entry is possible, we go in,” she said. “We are not waiting for water infrastructure, generators or any other preparations. If 300 people enter at once, their evacuation would require 1,000 soldiers. »

Last week, Kan reported that Weiss entered Gaza alone before being picked up by IDF soldiers and taken to the former site of Netzarim, a Jewish settlement dismantled by Israel during its disengagement from the Strip in 2005.

In August, Israeli security forces arrested six teenagers after dozens of them attempted to cross the border to hold a morning Shacharit prayer in Gaza.

Speaking at a press conference this week, Avi Dichter, Israel’s food security minister and member of the country’s security cabinet, said: “I think we are going to stay in Gaza for a long time. »

There is, he says, still “a lot of work to do” in the region.

“I think most people understand that (Israel) will be (for) years in a sort of situation in the West Bank where you go in and out and maybe stay along the Netzarim (corridor),” added Dichter in reference to the controlled strip of land. by Israel crossing the Gaza Strip.

Talk to The guardian On Friday, Israeli reservists who had served in Gaza said they had spent much of the past two months demolishing homes to clear land for military bases in the corridor.

“That was the only mission. There were no buildings left taller than my height, except for our bases and observation towers,” one of them said.

Satellite images examined by the BBC show a new strip being cleared in northern Gaza.

Dr HA Hellyer, a Middle East security expert at the think tank Rusi, said it appears Israel is preparing to prevent Palestinian civilians from returning home.

Speaking earlier this week, Smotrich said Israel should occupy Gaza and “encourage” half of its population to leave.

“It is possible to create a situation in which the population of Gaza will be reduced to half its current size within two years,” he said.

“It won’t cost too much money…even if it does, we shouldn’t be afraid to pay for it.”

Human rights groups have expressed concern that such a strategy amounts to ethnic cleansing.

Oxfam International claimed that Israel had blocked the charity from providing aid to northern Gaza.

Amitabh Behar, executive director of the NGO, said: “Our staff in Gaza have been desperately trying to reach starving civilians for almost two months, but have been blocked by the Israeli army. We know that many children are trapped and will die of hunger.

“Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the northern Gaza governorate proves once again that it operates with impunity, in accordance with the precepts of international law.

“It establishes the infrastructure necessary for a long-term military presence – a de facto annexation of territory – and destroys any remaining hope of a just and peaceful solution. »

Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, affirmed that there were no plans to allow Israeli civilians to return to Gaza.

“If you’re talking about resettling Gaza, that was never considered, and I’ve said that openly,” he told CNN in May. “And some of my constituents are not happy about it, but that’s my position.”