Israel’s Defense Minister denied any intention of resettlement in the Gaza Strip this Tuesday, after comments suggesting a possible desire by Israel that clashed with United States President Donald Trump’s plan for the Palestinian enclave.
Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that the Israeli Army would never leave the entire Gaza Strip and planned to establish a type of unit — Nahal — that has historically played a role in establishing Israeli communities, including settlements.
Shortly after some Israeli media outlets reported the comment as a plan to resettle Gaza, where Israel dismantled settlements in 2005, Katz issued a statement saying that “the government has no intention of establishing settlements in the Gaza Strip.”
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The US-backed plan for Gaza, signed by Israel and Hamas in October, establishes a gradual withdrawal of the Israeli army from the coastal enclave and provides that Israel will not re-establish civilian settlements in the region.
The plan, however, authorizes an “Israeli presence in the security perimeter that will remain until Gaza is adequately protected from any resurgent terrorist threat.”
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said Katz’s announcement was “a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement” and “totally goes against” Trump’s plan.
A US official stated that “the United States remains fully committed to President Trump’s 20-Point Peace Plan and expects all parties to fulfill their commitments.”
Settlements in the West Bank
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled out the possibility of reestablishing settlements in Gaza during the two-year Gaza war, although some ultranationalist members of his coalition seek to reoccupy Gaza.
Katz made his opening remarks in the West Bank settlement of Beit El, near the Palestinian Authority’s administrative headquarters in Ramallah, where he announced that 1,200 housing units would be built.
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“When the time comes, in the north of the Gaza Strip… we will establish Nahal military units instead of the (Israeli) communities that have been displaced. We will do it in the right way and at the right time,” he said.
In the statement clarifying the previous remark, Katz said: “The reference to the integration of Nahal… into the northern Gaza Strip was made only in a security context.”
