JENIN, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Israeli settlers reestablished the Ganim settlement east of Jenin on Thursday, 21 years after it was evacuated under Israel’s 2005 disengagement plan, in a move Hamas warned reflects the growing danger of accelerated settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
Tareq Ighbariya, the official in charge of the settlement file in Jenin governorate, said the return of settlers to Ganim represents a dangerous development that could reshape the geopolitical map of Jenin and impose new realities on the ground.
He said rebuilding the settlement would fragment the governorate, turn the area into something resembling a military barracks, increase attacks and confrontations, and threaten geographic continuity between Palestinian communities.
Ighbariya added that the move reflects the growing influence of settlers and settlement councils over Israel’s far-right government and undermines the possibility of establishing a geographically contiguous Palestinian state.
The reestablishment of Ganim comes days after Israel began demolishing 27 Palestinian buildings in Jenin governorate. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had said demolitions in the Ganim and Kadim areas were paving the way for the return of settlements there.
Israel’s government approved in late 2025 the reestablishment of Ganim and Kadim as part of a decision that included establishing or reorganizing 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Under the 2005 disengagement plan, Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip and evacuated four settlements in the northern West Bank: Ganim, Kadim, Homesh and Sa-Nur.
In March 2023, the Israeli Knesset repealed provisions of the law that had barred settlers from entering the four evacuated settlements, paving the way for their return, particularly to the Homesh site, where a religious school was rebuilt.
Hamas, meanwhile, condemned the reopening of Ganim, saying every settlement and outpost built on occupied Palestinian land would not change the land’s ownership or identity.
The Movement said annexation, settlement and displacement plans would not pass, regardless of the sacrifices required, and that Israel’s arrogance would not uproot Palestinians from their land.
Hamas called on Palestinians to strengthen their steadfastness, remain attached to their land, expand all forms of resistance and confrontation, and unite factional and popular efforts to foil Judaization, annexation and displacement projects.
It also urged the international community to assume its legal and political responsibilities, stop settlement expansion and hold Israeli leaders accountable for crimes against Palestinians, their land and holy sites.
The move comes amid Israeli efforts to expand settlement control in the northern West Bank by facilitating the return of settlers to sites evacuated in 2005 and preparing the infrastructure, roads and military positions needed for that purpose.
It also coincides with the transfer of powers from the so-called Civil Administration to far-right minister Smotrich, a step Palestinians say reinforces de facto annexation of the West Bank and imposes new settlement realities aimed at undermining any viable Palestinian state.
