Updated Jan. 3, 2025 at 11:10 a.m.*
TEL AVIV — On the day of the devastating Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, many Israelis already believed that the mere proximity to the Palestinian territories in the Gaza Strip posed a direct threat to their security. By early December 2023, the Israeli government informed the Arab states of its plan to establish a buffer zone between the Gaza Strip and Israel “to prevent Hamas or other fighters from entering or attacking Israel,” Reuters quoted an unnamed Israeli security official as saying at the time.
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It is not clear whether Israel had already planned for renewed Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip at that time — and whether the government is currently pursuing such plans. But that is exactly what media reports suggest, including a report by Der Spiegel, which quotes, for example, Israeli activist Eyal Weizman, founder of the research agency Forensic Architecture.
“In all wars since 1948, Israel has tried to expel the Palestinians to the area south of Wadi Gaza. Now it is doing it again,” Weizman said. After all, the creation of a buffer zone presupposes the expulsion of the population living there.
“Unrealistic” plans
Such a scenario could provide radical settlers with an opportunity to act on their long-held aspiration of repopulating Gaza. Back in 2005, the Israeli government had evacuated all Jewish settlements in Gaza. When the settlers left, so did the soldiers who guarded them. But using satellite imagery, Ha’aretz reported in summer 2023 that the Israeli military now controls around 26% of the Gaza Strip again.
“The army’s activities in the occupied territories are diverse: expanding military bases, building infrastructure and roads, and all of this under constant fire from Hamas,” Ha’aretz journalists Yarden Michaeli and Avi Scharf wrote.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly denied any plans to resettle the Gaza Strip. As recently as June, he dismissed the idea as “unrealistic.” Since then, however, the settler movement has intensified its political lobbying.
In October, the radical settler organization Nachala held a meeting right on the Gaza border. Among the speakers were two prominent members of Netanyahu’s government: Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Smotrich remarked that it was evident there would eventually be Jewish settlements in Gaza.
Netzarim as a symbol
Other politicians, such as the far-right Knesset member Zvi Sukkot, who was also present at the meeting, did not see Netanyahu’s position as a “fundamental rejection” of settlements. Rather, it was about the conditions in the Gaza Strip.
“If the conditions change, Netanyahu could also change his mind,” Sukkot said, according to a report by U.S. public radio station NPR. The continued presence of the Israeli army in Gaza makes it easier for the settlers to pursue their goals. In November, for example, the head of the settler organization Nachala, Daniella Weiss, claimed to have entered the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians are barred from entering this corridor.
The Israeli military leadership was apparently not informed of this. Yet the news channel KAN revealed that it was true: Israeli soldiers had helped Weiss enter Gaza “over the head of their superiors.” According to the report, soldiers who were friends of hers picked up Weiss and other settler activists in a jeep and took them to the former settlement of Netzarim, roughly in the middle of the Gaza Strip.
Netzarim is a place of particular significance. It used to be a settlement, and it still lends its name to the Netzarim Corridor, a road linking Israel to the former settlement along the Mediterranean and effectively dividing Gaza into two. According to Ha’aretz, Palestinians are barred from entering this corridor. Netanyahu has insisted during ceasefire negotiations — ongoing for months — that Israel must retain control of the corridor. This 7 kilometer stretch runs through southern Gaza City. Netanyahu has stated repeatedly that Israel will not relinquish the Netzarim Corridor “under any circumstances.
90% complete
The right-wing settler movement is closely monitoring developments. Following Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election, negotiations resumed. Trump set an ultimatum, requiring both sides to reach an agreement on a ceasefire and the release of approximately 100 Israeli hostages before his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2024.
Hamas is now considered extremely weakened and leaderless.
On his platform, Truth Social, Trump warned, “if the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity.”
Hamas is now considered extremely weakened and leaderless, as the latest reports on the progress of the negotiations confirm. As the BBC reported on Sunday, citing a Hamas spokesman, the talks are said to be “90% complete.” The proposed agreement reportedly includes “the possible establishment of a buffer zone several kilometers wide along the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip,” an area where Israel would maintain military control.
*Originally published Dec. 29, 2024, this article was updated Jan. 3, 2025 with news about settlers storming the al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as enriched media.
