Senior members of the Israeli government joined a settler march at the border of Gaza on Sunday night, calling for the return of Jewish settlements to the besieged Palestinian territory.
The march was organized by the Nachala Movement, a settler group that has called for the “conquest” of Gaza, the establishment of Jewish settlements, and the expulsion of all Palestinians living in the strip.
The Times of Israel reported that the settler activists breached at least four IDF checkpoints during the march and faced little resistance from Israeli security forces. The march, being held under the slogan “Returning home after 21 years,” a reference to the withdrawal of Israeli settlers from Gaza in 2005, known as the “disengagement,” was held in an area near the Gaza border that’s considered a closed military zone.
Israeli ministers who took part in the march include Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.
The march comes after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, also a Likud member, said that Israel had no intention of withdrawing from Gaza even if Hamas disarmed, and would establish three “Nachala outposts,” a type of Jewish settlement that are first established by IDF soldiers with the goal of turning them into permanent civilian communities.
Smotrich also recently said that a body he oversees in the Israeli Defense Ministry has drawn up plans for three settlements in Gaza and is just waiting for the approval of Netanyahu. Smotrich delivered remarks at the march on Sunday, calling for the swift establishment of the settlements, which, like Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, are clearly illegal under international law.
“We erased the disgrace of the expulsion in northern Samaria, and with God’s help, we will do the same here in the Gaza Strip as well, with determination and perseverance,” Smotrich said, according to Haaretz, referring to settlements that were removed from the northern West Bank in 2005, which are being re-established.
Smotrich added that settlers need to “mobilize now” because if “the left” comes to power in Israel, “all of this could be undone, and we will once again march here to prevent evacuations and destruction. They will reverse the entire Zionist and national settlement revolution that we have brought about during this term.”
