With the ruins of the Gaza Strip mendacity round him, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz final week renewed his push to arrange unlawful settlements within the battered territory’s north.
“I intend to ascertain three Nahal outposts, which can be a navy entity, in these locations that have been in northern Gaza,” Katz advised Channel 14, referring to bases that mix farming with an armed presence in a bid to consolidate management over a territory.
The minister mentioned, in his view, establishing these settlements would improve safety – however execution must be “in the suitable method, on the proper timing, whereas coordinating”.
It was not the primary time the member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud celebration has made such remarks. In December, Katz said the Israeli navy would “by no means depart all of Gaza” however “sooner or later” would set up Nahal posts regardless of a United States-brokered plan stipulating a full Israeli navy withdrawal and barring the re-establishment of Israeli settlements.
His feedback additionally echoed a current assertion by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that “the groundwork to ascertain three settlements within the North Gaza space” had been accomplished. Smotrich, who additionally holds the portfolio of “settlement administration” within the Ministry of Defence, has repeatedly referred to as for the complete occupation of the Gaza Strip.
Such a push has been central to the targets of Israel’s settler motion, which in January 2024 organised a convention attended by authorities ministers to advocate for the re-establishment of settlements within the Strip.
“That is their ideology. They need the Gazans out of Gaza and so they need to settle there like they settle within the West Financial institution,” former Israeli diplomat Alon Liel advised Al Jazeera.
All settlements on Palestinian land are unlawful beneath worldwide legislation, however settlement growth and annexation have been a core goal of Netanyahu’s hard-right authorities. In recent times, it has carried out unprecedented settlement growth, ensuing within the compelled displacement of dozens of Palestinian communities and the de facto annexation of land within the occupied West Financial institution.
Issam Younis, a distinguished Palestinian human rights defender and director of the Al Mezan Middle for Human Rights, mentioned he was not stunned by Katz’s newest feedback. “It was very clear from day one within the genocide that the principle objective was to make life inconceivable in Gaza by destroying every little thing,” he advised Al Jazeera. “It’s a race for time – take over land, starve Gaza and deny it any probability at life, then expel the inhabitants and construct settlements.”
Younis mentioned Israel’s conduct throughout its genocidal warfare towards Palestinians in Gaza and the “ceasefire” agreed in October beneath the US plan clearly confirmed that expelling the inhabitants is the principle goal of the Israeli authorities.
“Dehumanising statements by senior Israeli officers reaffirmed this: calling Palestinians in Gaza ‘human animals’, saying that there aren’t any civilians in Gaza, then saying clearly that the target was to expel the inhabitants and create settlements within the Gaza Strip,” Younis added.
Israel made no secret of that goal. In early 2025, the federal government introduced it was organising an company to supervise the “voluntary migration” of Palestinians from Gaza as a part of a plan proposed by Katz.
The announcement drew widespread worldwide condemnation. Consultants warned that such a transfer would quantity to a warfare crime. Final month, the Israeli authorities determined to rebrand the company and exchange discuss of “voluntary migration” with the “free motion plan” whereas utilizing “language deemed extra acceptable internationally”, based on Israeli media.
The coverage enjoys widespread assist in Israel. A 2025 ballot commissioned by the College of Pennsylvania discovered that 82 % of Jewish Israelis assist the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza.
In the meantime, 9 months right into a “ceasefire”, throughout which Israeli assaults have killed a minimum of 1,127 Palestinians, situations in Gaza stay insufferable.
The United Nations says a minimum of 265 kids have been killed in the course of the interval whereas starvation persists and the debilitated healthcare system continues to undergo acute drugs shortages.
“Solely 20 % of what Gaza wants has been allowed to enter – issues associated to water and well being and to life typically,” Younis mentioned, referring to Israeli restrictions on assist getting into the Strip. “Gaza is being starved and parched for water.” For him, the purpose is evident: expulsion, “even when they name it voluntary migration”.
Liel mentioned Israel is doing the minimal on the humanitarian monitor to keep away from upsetting US President Donald Trump, who has arrange what he has named the Board of Peace to supervise the administration and reconstruction of the Strip.
“I don’t suppose that Israel needs Gaza to be reconstructed like Trump is dreaming,” he mentioned.
Palestinians have been more and more annoyed with the Board of Peace’s failure to stress Israel or implement the restoration and development plans outlined in Trump’s “ceasefire” plan, together with the entry of critically wanted help.
“The Board of Peace is complicit till it strikes to rebuild Gaza instantly,” Younis mentioned. “In any other case, it might not be permitting Israel to create the situations that make life inconceivable for Palestinians in Gaza, which is able to lead to expulsion.”
Israeli forces have additionally expanded the “Yellow Line”, demarcating Israeli-controlled areas inside Gaza, to embody 70 % of the Strip. “We’re not retreating from the ‘Yellow Line’, unequivocally, so long as Hamas doesn’t actually disarm, and even after that, we stay inside Gaza,” Katz advised Channel 14 throughout his tour of northern Gaza, saying the destruction of the territory was “the results of a deliberate coverage”.
The settlement push comes as Israel is gearing up for elections, which can be held on October 27.
In keeping with Liel, Katz and different ministers are overtly speaking about constructing settlements in Gaza as a result of their calculation is that it might increase their electoral possibilities amid a shift to the suitable by the voters.
Many observers anticipated the weeks main as much as the polls to be accompanied by a severe escalation in Gaza, the West Financial institution and different Israeli “warfare fronts” with out altering the political state of affairs in Israel.
“The want of this Israeli authorities was that as many [Palestinians from Gaza] will depart. Hopefully voluntarily. If not, Israel will assist, and that is the rationale you don’t need to rebuild Gaza,” Liel mentioned.
