Thousands of Israelis along with ministers demand settlements in Gaza

Several thousand Israelis, including ministers, in favor of restoring settlements in the Gaza Strip gathered in Jerusalem on Sunday evening, urging the prime minister to look into the project.

Members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and other far-right ministers took part in the rally as fighting between the Israeli army and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza intensifies. “Time to return to Gush Katif and encourage voluntary migration”National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gavir said, referring to a group of Israeli settlements once established in Gaza.

“Encourage” the departure of Gazans.

“Retreat brings war and if we no longer want October 7, we must return home, control the territory and encourage (…)”

Departure “Voluntary” Gazans, he added. Eleven other ministers were present at the meeting, which took place at a packed Jerusalem conference center, according to organizers. Speakers called for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, and decided that the resettlement of settlements was the only way to ensure Israel’s security.

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Another sang “The Oslo Accords are Dead, the People of Israel Live”, at the White House in front of American President Bill Clinton, in reference to an agreement leading to the peaceful coexistence of the two peoples, approved in 1993 by Yasser Arafat, the leader of the PLO, and Yitzhak Rabin, the Prime Minister of Israel. . The gathering shows that an extremist fringe, long a minority in Israel, is currently gaining ground at the risk of deepening the rift between Israel and its American ally.

Israel has occupied the Gaza Strip as well as the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the 1967 war. About 400,000 Israelis live today in the West Bank along with three million Palestinians in settlements considered illegal by much of the international community. On the other hand, Israel withdrew its citizens from 21 settlements established in the Gaza Strip in 2005. The region is home to 2.4 million Palestinians, most of whom have been displaced since fighting began in October.

“Not a real goal”

Israel’s prime minister has so far never endorsed plans to revive settlements in Gaza, declaring that the project is not “Not a real goal”. He has yet to organize a meeting dedicated to his government “The Day to Come” war. It was triggered by an unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7, which killed about 1,140 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official figures.

In response, Israel promised“destroy” The Islamist movement – which it classifies as terrorist like the United States and the European Union – and launched a massive military operation in Gaza, killing 26,422 people, mostly women, children and teenagers, according to the latest report from the Hamas Health Ministry on Sunday. The Netanyahu government is the most religious and ultranationalist in the country’s history. Since coming to power in late 2022, he has made expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank a priority.

But his policy is openly at odds with the approach of Israel’s staunch ally, the United States. Earlier this year, Itamar Ben-Gavir, who is also the leader of the far-right pro-settler Jewish Force party, called for the return of settlers to Gaza after the war, a day after another far-right minister made a similar call. , Finance, Bezalel Smotrich. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said his remarks“irresponsible”.