In the context of the Gaza war, some Israelis have proposed expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza or the creation of conditions leading to their exodus, and a new wave of Israeli resettlement of the Gaza Strip. Previously, Israel had dismantled its settlements in Gaza in its unilateral withdrawal from the area in 2005, after 38 years of settlers living in the Gaza Strip.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that "Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population" and that "Israel is fighting Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian population, and we are doing so in full compliance with international law".
Background
Israeli settlements are civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories, populated almost exclusively by Jewish identity or ethnicity on lands that have been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War in 1967. The expansion of settlements often involves the confiscation of Palestinian land and resources, leading to displacement of Palestinian communities and tension and conflict. Settlements are often protected by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and are frequently flashpoints for violence against Palestinians. Human Rights Watch and other observer organization volunteer regularly file reports on Israeli settler violence, referring to stoning and shooting incidents involving Israeli settlers against Palestinians.
The disengagement of Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip was first proposed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2003, and approved by the Knesset in February 2005. It was implemented in August 2005, with compensation packages offered to those that would voluntarily leave their homes; others were forcibly evicted by IDF forces. The year of the disengagement would see the removal of 8,475 settlers from Gaza, while in that same year the number of settlers in the West Bank increased by 15,000.
The international community considers the establishment of Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories illegal on one of two bases: that they are in violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, or that they are in breach of international declarations. The United Nations, international human rights organizations and many legal scholars regard the Gaza Strip to still be under military occupation by Israel, while Israeli disputes this.
Protests, gathering and movements against the disengagement and removal of settlers began shortly after the announcement of disengagement and have continued throughout the years. In October 2004, 100,000 Israelis marched in cities throughout Israel to protest the plan under the slogan "100 cities support Gush Katif and Samaria". In 2014, activists started a Facebook group Returning to Gush Katif (i.e. the Jewish-Israeli Gaza settlements) a group now renamed Home - Returning to the Gaza Strip (). By December 2023 it had more than 10,000 followers.
Proposed military settlements In late January 2024, an unnamed Israeli military officer reported that Netanyahu and others in the government had requested that military members begin to establish "permanents bases" in the Gaza Strip. Reportedly, the orders were given verbally and individually to a select few. Some military officials anonymously spoke out against the proposed settlements, claiming that they would be sitting ducks and would require a security partnership with authorities such as the Palestinian Authority. Israel Foreign Minister Israel Katz also floated in January 2024 that in event of a two state solution between Israel and Palestine an artificial island could be created off the coast of the Gaza Strip that Israel would control.
Conferences By November 2023, a campaign known as "Returning Home" had already kickstarted.New Coalition of Jewish Groups Calling for Return to Gaza On 22 November, a conference took place in Ashdod where various grassroots organizations convened.Return to Gush Katif: A determined movement emerges to resettle Israelis in Gaza The event featured addresses not only from far-right politicians such as Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech but also from two from Netanyahu's conservative Likud party, Ariel Kallner and Tally Gotliv. Son Har-Melech stated that there was "no escape from returning and fully controlling the Gaza Strip" and that full control was "extensive and flourishing settlement" unlike the Gush Katif settlements that were concentrated. While Gotliv called for a wall and tower in the northern part of Gaza immediately. Another speaker, Yossi Dagan, had led an influential lobby in the Likud Central Committee. Dagan was a prominent settler activist who had to withdraw from a settlement in a small area of the West Bank that was de-settled in 2005 around the same time as Gaza.
In November 2023, 11 leading right-wing organizations launched the "Coalition of Organizations for the Return to the Gaza Strip and All the Settlements of Northern Samaria" in a series of secret meetings. The new coalition plans to call on Israelis to join settlement nuclei (gar’inim) that will rebuild the former Jewish communities of Gush Katif, starting with the northern Gaza Strip and northern Samaria.
In December 2023, hundreds of settlement activists gathered in central Israel for another conference titled "Practical Preparation for Returning to Gaza."
"Settlement Brings Security" Conference, January 2024 On 28 January 2024, a conference known as "Settlement Brings Security" () was held in Jerusalem, sponsored by the right-wing Nachala Israeli settler organization. Amidst the war in the Gaza Strip, twelve Israeli cabinet ministers, including several from Prime Minister's Likud party, took part in the conference. The director of Nachala, Daniella Weiss, referenced the October 7 attacks and the ongoing war for the need of the conference and resettlement, stating to reporters: "It's the end of the presence of Arabs in Gaza. It's the end....Instead of them, there will be many, many Jews that will return to the settlements, that will build new settlements." In response to Israel's far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stating that the Palestinians living in Gaza should "go away from here", some attendees shouted "Only eviction!"
The conference advocated for building new Israeli settlements in Gaza and encouraging the displacement of Palestinians living there. About 5,000 mostly religious Israelis attended including a large presence of children and teenagers.
Cabinet ministers' participation and its implications
11 of the 37 sitting cabinet ministers attended the conference, in addition to 15 ruling-coalition MKs. The presence of so many members of the government marked the elevation of the resettlement movement from the fringe of politics to new prominence, as former advisor to prime ministers Alon Pinkas wrote: "Even if you've seen one before, it's not the same. This was not a fringe opposition group: it was the government of Israel in all its political splendor, unabashedly showing its true colors. This was the governing coalition in an orgy of anti-state and antidemocratic euphoria."— Alon Pinkas, former advisor to prime ministers Ehud Barak and Shimon Peres in "An Orgy of Jewish Supremacy and Antidemocratic Euphoria, Encouraged by Netanyahu", published in Ha'aretz, 29 January 2024
The 11 cabinet ministers who attended the conference are listed in the table:
Name Position Party CapacityItamar Ben-GvirMinister of National Security Otzma Yehudit keynote speakerBezalel SmotrichMinister of Finance Religious Zionist Party keynote speaker Yitzhak Goldknopf Minister of ConstructionLeader of the Haredi political party Agudat Yisrael Leader of the political alliance United Torah Judaism United Torah Judaism speakerShlomo Karhi Minister of CommunicationsLikudattendeeHaim KatzMinister of TourismLikudattendeeIdit SilmanMinister of Environmental ProtectionLikudattendeeMay GolanMinister of Social Equality and Promotion of the Status of WomenLikudattendeeAmichai Chikli Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Social EqualityLikudattendee Yitzhak WasserlaufMinister of Development of the Periphery, Negev and GalileeOtzma YehuditattendeeAmihai Eliyahu Minister of Heritage Otzma Yehudit attendeeOrit Strook Religious Zionist Partyattendee
Map of proposed settlements
The conference room was decorated with a giant map showing prospective settlements in the place of existing Palestinian towns and cities as well as 15 re-established ones that existed before Israeli disengagement from Gaza in 2005. 6 were new, including large Jewish-Israeli-only settlements which were to be built on the current sites of the two largest cities in the Strip: Gaza City (2017 population 590,481) and Khan Younis (2017 pop. 205,125), in addition to Rafah (pre-war pop est.: 280,000, but which at the time of the conference had over a million refugees and residents living there).
The new settlements named were: Core of Gaza City () Yishai () would be built on the outskirts of the ruins of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza Gates of Gaza District () settlement in Khan Yunis Hessed La'alafim () south of Rafah, to be reserved for Haredi settlement Maoz on the southern Gaza coast
The map showed Stars of David in the centers of these 3 major cities and labeled the pushpins pointing to the stars as "cores", but the map itself did not specify whether the light green area surrounding the Jewish-Israeli "cores" would be populated by Palestinians or not, although cabinet ministers frequently promoted the need to coerce Palestinians to leave their country.Map of proposed Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip presented at conference "התיישבות מביאה ביטחון" on 28 January 2024
Map of a Hebrew Gaza City Organizers also presented a map of a new Gaza City, also published in the Wall Street Journal, with new Hebrew names for the neighborhoods and the significance of the new names. The following table summarizes the material shown on that map: