GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Israeli Settlement Minister Orit Strook called on Monday for the reestablishment of settlements in the Gaza Strip, claiming the territory is “part of the Land of Israel.”
Israel’s public broadcaster quoted Strook as saying, “Jews must live in the Gaza Strip, and the demand to rebuild Jewish settlements is a correct demand.”
She claimed that Gaza is part of the “Land of Israel” not only according to the Torah and halakha, or Jewish law, but also under international law.
Strook’s remarks came a day after several Israeli government ministers joined a march of thousands of settlers through a closed military zone toward the Gaza border in support of rebuilding settlements in the territory.
The Times of Israel said the march drew thousands of participants and was held to mark the 21st anniversary of the evacuation of the Gush Katif settlement bloc from Gaza.
Several right-wing ministers and politicians joined the march, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, as well as members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.
According to organizers from the settler group Nachala, 28 ministers and Knesset members from the governing coalition took part in the event.
The Times of Israel said participants apparently did not manage to cross the border into the Gaza Strip.
Earlier, Ben Gvir posted a video on X claiming that “Gaza is ours.”
“If someone had said three years ago that we would control 70% of the Gaza Strip, no one would have believed them,” Ben Gvir wrote. “That is why I say today that there will be Jewish settlements throughout Gaza, and we will encourage migration there.”
Israel evacuated the Gush Katif bloc and other settlements in Gaza in August 2005 under then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s unilateral disengagement plan, which also included the evacuation of four settlements in the northern West Bank.
