A group of Israeli settlers briefly entered Gaza on Thursday and raised an Israeli flag as they are pushing for the establishment of Jewish settlements and the total expulsion, or ethnic cleansing, of the Palestinian population.
According to Haaretz, the IDF said the settlers breached the border in two areas. In one incident, a group of settlers entered Gaza in a car and were brought back over the border by IDF troops. In another area, settlers were on foot and broke down a barrier, but were blocked from going any further by Israeli troops and police.
The provocation was led by the Nachala movement, which has labelled all Palestinians living in Gaza the “enemy” and has strongly criticized the US-backed ceasefire deal, which Israel continues to violate.
Before the deal was signed, Nachala said that “the only victory is the conquest of all of Gaza, the expulsion of the enemy, it has already been proven that all Gazans are the enemy, and Jewish settlement in the entire Gaza strip.”
The incursion into Gaza came as Nachala was holding an event in southern Israel near the Gaza border that was attended by several members of the Israeli Knesset, including members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and the Jewish Power party, which is led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
Many members of the Israeli government, including Ben Gvir and Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have been explicit in their support for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and re-establishment of Jewish settlements. While Netanyahu hasn’t publicly expressed support for settlements, many members of the Likud support the idea, and he has made clear his ultimate goal for Gaza is the expulsion of the Palestinian population, though he has so far failed to achieve it.
The current situation in Gaza involves the IDF occupying more than 50% of the Palestinian territory, which is essentially cleansed of its Palestinian population, besides the Israeli-backed militias and gangs that are operating in the area and the small number of civilians who live with them. If the current occupation continues for the long term, settlers will continue to pressure the government to allow them to build illegal outposts on Palestinian land.
Earlier this year, Daniella Weiss, the leader of Nachala, said she had 1,000 families ready to move into Gaza. Weiss was interviewed in a documentary by Louis Theroux titled “The Settlers,” where she bragged about her work over the years in establishing and expanding illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
