The Israeli military has taken control of 26% of the Gaza Strip and is building bases and paving roads in the areas to ensure long-term occupation, which could lead to Jewish settlements, Haaretz reported on Monday.
Israel established a “buffer zone” along the Israel-Gaza border by demolishing buildings and agricultural land. The zone cuts into about 1 kilometer along Gaza’s entire border with Israel and accounts for about 16% of the Strip’s territory.
Israel has also taken control of the Philadelphi Corridor, which runs along the Egypt-Gaza border, and demolished buildings in the Netzarim Corridor, a 38 kilometer square area that separates northern Gaza from the rest of the Strip.
The Israeli military has built bases in the corridor and is using the Turkish hospital, which was Gaza’s only cancer treatment hospital, as another base. The US-built pier is also located in the Netzarim Corridor. Haaretz reported that Graffiti written in Hebrew near the pier reads, “Without settlement, there’s no victory.”
An Israeli settlement called Netzarim used to be located where the Turkish hospital was built. All Israeli settlements in Gaza were evacuated by 2005 as part of a policy known as the “disengagement.”
According to Haaretz, the Netzarim settlement was part of an Israeli government plan to bisect Gaza and strengthen Israeli control by means of civilian settlements. Today, Israeli soldiers in Gaza are taking symbolic steps to show their support for re-establishing Jewish settlements in the territory.
One video in the Haaretz report shows a uniformed Israeli soldier placing a menora in a building near the Turkish hospital. The menora was said to be the same one that was removed from a synagogue in the Netzarim settlement before it was evacuated.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied establishing Jewish settlements in Gaza was one of his goals, but members of his coalition government and Likud party openly support the idea, as well as the expulsion of Palestinians.
“In order to preserve the security achievements that our soldiers lost their lives for, we must resettle Gaza with security forces and settlers that will embrace the land with love,” Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, a member of the Likud party, said at a pro-settlement march in May.
At the same march, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of the Jewish Power party, called for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza. “We must return to Gaza now! We are coming home to the Holy Land!” he said. “And second, we must encourage emigration. Encourage the voluntary emigration of the residents of Gaza. It is moral!”
In October 2023, a document prepared by Israel’s Intelligence Ministry that was leaked to the media said the best post-war scenario for Israel would be the expulsion of all 2.3 million Palestinians living in Gaza.
186,000 dead Palestinians and the media don't make a sound. Every day I just witness the absolute depravity and bias of our mainstream media – all in the pockets of the Zionists lobby.
Maybe some people do support Israel for good reasons.
If there is, you aren't one of them.
Shows what you know.
Just judging by your comments.
Murder is fun?'
Israel delenda est.
Hamas terrorists thought so.
Depends on who's 'good', doesn't it. Can't say that's for the Palestinians or the American taxpayers who finance the genocide.
Hamas terrorists and their masters had a good time,now the whirlwind is being reaped.
Using the whirlwind as metaphor? Well, nobody knows which direction the whirlwind will go, it can even affect the terrorists in Tel Aviv as well as the ones you mentioned. It’s rightfully called ‘blow back.’
Yes, perfectly loathesome people. This is the path to, and price of 'success' in the West, a perfectly mephitic culture.
"186,000 dead Palestinians and the media don't make a sound" Because the media does not believe that number.
It continues to strike me about how deeply abhorrent I find the situation, so easily comparable to Nazi Germany.
Israel delenda est.
I'm thinking this is right out of the Old Testament. "They totally destroyed them, not sparing anyone that breathed, and he burned Hazor itself. Joshua took all these royal cities and their kings and put them to the sword. He totally destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded." – Joshua 11:11-23
That's who they think they are.
Who in their right mind would want to live there?
So leave.
I never was there,and have no intention of going.Israel is staying until they recover their hostages and reduce the threats of terrorism.
They could have had their hostages back months ago, but they preferred to kill, children, mothers, their own hostages, in a rampage of insanity.
Israel delenda est.
The IDF doesn’t even control the ground it stands on in Gaza. The Likud is fooling itself with these maps.
Bad information = Bad Decisions
“In order to preserve the security achievements that our soldiers lost their lives for, we must resettle Gaza with security forces and settlers that will embrace the land with love,” Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, a member of the Likud party, said at a pro-settlement march in May.
Sounds like John McCain.
Thanks for the reporting. Its important. However, this is a pipe dream and its bravado to cover up for the colossal failure Israel is facing right now. "Control" is a relative term. The IDF is being targeted everywhere in the Strip, and even if the resistance allows them to set up shop for now, its only better pickings for the war of attrition that has already worn out the IDF now entering its 10th month. What's really incredible is the steadfastness of the Gazans who have withstood the Israeli attempt to force them to flee. The resistance on October 7th has unleashed a series of unprecedented events that will unravel Israel.
You are underestimating the power that Israel could unleash on Gaza. The only thing that prevents Israel from crushing Gaza is politics and world opinion. Israel can cut the power, water, fuel, communications and food stocks to Gaza at any time. Your war of attrition would be over in three months tops.
Yes, bad PR is what is stopping Israel from completing the genocide. But thank goodness for world opinion that Israel has thus far only made the place uninhabitable and created the worst humanitarian crises on the planet.
The only winners are the ideologues,the man in the street lost.
Gaza and the West Bank are the latest steps Israel is taking for their policy of greater Israel and expanding borders into other people's countries. After they're done with Gaza and West Bank, Lebanon is next on the list, and so it goes.
The dream of "Greater Israel" is over. As it stands now the state without permanent borders has shrunk in the North because of the situation with Hizbollah. It only going to get worse. Yes as the apartheid state gets more desperate it may lash out here and there and even grab more territory but its basically over. They can't even control Gaza much less additional land.
So let Lebanon take control and stop its territory from being used as a base for genocide against Israel.
Why should they when part of Lebanon is to be part of the greater Israel project? It’s no wonder Israel is hated by its neighbors.
After the lawn is mowed, then comes the settlements.
I knew these "buffer zones" they were creating were just land grabs.
Only suicidal Israelis would settle in Gaza…!
No. How can you have settlers in Gaza when every day they'll be blown up by Hamas?
Why people are speculating on this nonsense when Israel itself is about to be annihilated is unclear to me – except that people are morons. Including these idiots ruling Israel who think they can defeat Hamas, let alone the entire Axis of Resistance – even with US help.
At the same march, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of the Jewish Power party, called for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza. “We must return to Gaza now! We are coming home to the Holy Land!” he said. “And second, we must encourage emigration. Encourage the voluntary emigration of the residents of Gaza. It is moral!”
Israel's own Lindsey Graham.