Israeli war chief doubles down on promise to allow Jewish settlements in Gaza
Israel Katz also vowed to extend Israel's colonization and expulsion of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank
Israel will allow Jewish settlers to illegally occupy and live in northern Gaza in the future, Haaretz reported on 24 December, amid the military's ongoing killing, ethnic cleansing, and occupation of additional Palestinian land in the strip.
“In the northern part, it will be possible, in my view, to establish Garinei Nahal in an orderly manner when the time comes,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said.
‘Garinei Nahal’ refers to a program that combines military service with collective living among civilians in settlements to help Judaize newly conquered Arab lands.
Mixed military-civilian settlements were established surrounding Gaza starting in the 1950s. Hamas attacked such settlements in the “Gaza envelope” on 7 October 2023.
“The vision that I had from the start of the war was that on the northern border of the Gaza Strip ... [there would be a] model of Garinei Nahal that are military, but have meaning, and there can be a [school for studying Torah] there, and other things,” he said.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz made the remarks at a conference held by religious Zionist newspaper Makor Rishon.
Katz promised that Israeli forces would never fully retreat from all of Gaza and would maintain a buffer zone in the strip.
Tel Aviv directly occupies 63 percent of Gaza, where its forces continue to demolish homes and residential structures to ensure Palestinians will have nothing to return to. The Israeli-occupied half of Gaza in the east is separated from the Hamas-controlled half in the west by the “Yellow Line.” Any Palestinians, including children, who accidentally cross or approach the line are shot and killed.
According to a new analysis from Gaza Maps, Israeli forces have expanded their occupation of Gaza by 10 percent in just the last two months as they continue to push westward to the Yellow Line.
Most of the territory's roughly two million residents have been pushed into increasingly cramped areas in the remaining 37 percent of the strip amid widespread destruction.
Israeli officials have stated that only the Israeli-controlled territory in Gaza will be rebuilt. Plans proposed by US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, include creating a high-tech, luxurious resort city, funded in part by billions of US taxpayer dollars.
Katz also said that Israel would build more settlements and military bases in the occupied West Bank and forcibly expel more Palestinians from their lands.
Israelis refer to this policy of colonization, land theft, and ethnic cleansing using the euphemism “practical annexation” or “practical sovereignty.”
While at a ceremony marking the building of new housing units in the illegal Beit El settlement in the occupied West Bank, Katz noted that, “We are implementing a policy of practical sovereignty there. It is impossible now, due to the circumstances, to declare annexation.”
On 24 December, all members of the G7 states, except the US, condemned Israel's decision to build new settlements in the occupied West Bank, noting that such settlements are illegal under international law.
“We, states of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom condemn the approval by the Israeli security cabinet of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank,” the statement read.
“We recall that such unilateral actions, as part of a wider intensification of the settlement policies in the West Bank, not only violate international law but also risk fueling instability.”