JERUSALEM: Israel’s defence minister denied any intention to resettle the Gaza Strip after earlier remarks sowed confusion on Tuesday by suggesting the Jewish state would one day like to do so, comments at odds with US President Donald Trump’s plan for the Palestinian enclave.
Defence Minister Israel Katz, speaking at a settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said the military would never leave all of Gaza and planned to station a type of unit — Nahal — that has historically played a role in establishing Israeli communities, including settlements.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said that Katz’s announcement was “a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement” and “completely goes against” Trump’s peace plan.
After Israeli media reported the comment as a plan to resettle Gaza, where Israel dismantled settlements in 2005, Katz issued a statement saying “the government has no intention of establishing settlements in the Gaza Strip”.
US-backed peace plan bars Tel Aviv from
establishing settlements and calls for
it to pull out completely
Katz tried to further clarify his remarks, saying “the reference to the integration of Nahal … in the northern Gaza Strip was made in a security context only”.
The Israeli defence minister, in his comments at the Beit El settlement, said: “We are located deep inside Gaza and we will never leave all of Gaza. There will never be such a thing. We are there to protect, to prevent what happened. We don’t trust anybody else to protect our citizens.”
According to the US-backed peace plan signed by both Israel and Hamas in October, the Israeli military will gradually withdraw completely from the coastal enclave and Israel will not re-establish civilian settlements there.
The plan nevertheless provides for an Israeli “security perimeter presence that will remain until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat”.
Netanyahu, Trump to meet next week
The comments point to complications facing Trump’s Gaza plan, ahead of his meeting with Netanyahu at the White House next week.
The US president’s plan secured a ceasefire in October and the release of the remaining living Israeli prisoners seized in the Oct 7, 2023, raids.
But there has been little sign of progress towards the other goals. Hamas has so far refused to disarm, as required by the plan, which also foresees the establishment of a transitional authority and the deployment of a multinational force.
Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank — part of the territory where Palestinians aim to establish a state — has accelerated under Netanyahu. Israel is gearing up for elections next year and settlers make up part of Katz and Netanyahu’s Likud party voter base.
