Israel should settle Gaza ‘forever’ after the war, insist ministers at settler conference

“A year after the pogroms (of October 7), we will stand together – Likud members, regional branch chairs, MKs and ministers – to jointly declare that ‘Gaza is ours. Forever,'” a poster promoting it declared.

Around one third of all Likud’s Knesset representatives were due to attend, the Times of Israel reported.

This included Social Equality Minister MK May Golan and MKs Avichay Buaron, Sasson Guetta, and Eli Dallal, among others.

Speaking to CNN in May, Netanyahu insisted that Israel does not plan to permanently occupy Gaza.

Writing on social media as he travelled to the conference, Smotrich said he believed settling Gaza was essential to Israel's future security.

The enclave, he claimed, is an inherent part of the land of Israel.

"[The] reality shows that every place we leave becomes a front terrorist base for Iran and is used to strengthen the terrorist elements to harm us,” the minister wrote.

“And if we learn from experience then it is not possible to maintain a military presence for a long time where there is no civilian settlement.”

He added: “The conference today is part of a public process of information and harnessing and is intended to promote a practical process of pioneering and Zionist settlement, which will be built together with the restoration of the communities.”

Smotrich was joined at the conference by Ben-Gvir, who said encouraging Jewish immigration and settlement in Gaza was “in our hands”.

The extremist national security minister, who has previously celebrated acts of anti-Muslim terrorism, was filmed dancing and singing with attendees. 

"What we have learned this year is that everything is up to us. We are the owners of this land,” he said. “We will encourage the voluntary transfer of all Gazan citizens. We will offer them the opportunity to move to other countries because that land belongs to us.”

Weiss, who leads Nachala, a settler movement which organised the conference, said: “We came here with one clear purpose: the purpose is to settle the entire Gaza Strip, not just part of it, not just a few settlements, the entire Gaza Strip from north to south.”

She claimed there are six settler groups and more than 700 families who are ready to settle Gaza.

Weiss added: “As a result of the brutal massacre of October 7, the Gazan Arabs lost the right to be here ever, so they will go to the different countries of the world. They will not stay here.”

The conference was reportedly attended by several hundred people, including settlers who live in the occupied West Bank.

In July, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s occupation of the territory was illegal. 

The Jewish state must stop its settlement activity as soon as possible, the United Nation's top court said.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed by Israel during its war launched following the October 7 terror attack, while nearly two million have been displaced in Gaza.

Earlier this month, the British Red Cross said the enclave’s humanitarian situation “deteriorates by the hour” while its healthcare system is on the brink of collapse.

During the conflict, senior Israeli politicians have meanwhile expressed support for the removal of Arabs from Gaza.

Last November, writing for the Wall Street Journal, Ram Ben-Barak, a Knesset member and former Mossad deputy director, and Danny Dannon, Israel’s former ambassador to the UN, said Palestinians should be taken in by Western nations.

At the time, Smotich welcomed their suggestion. 

“A cell with a small area like the Gaza Strip without natural resources and independent sources of livelihood has no chance to exist independently, economically and politically in such a high density for a long time,” he said.

“The state of Israel will no longer be able to put up with the existence of an independent entity in Gaza.”

Speaking at the settlement conference on Monday, Tally Gotliv, a Likud MK refused to say what should happen to the territory’s two million inhabitants. 

“We need to occupy the complete land of Israel,” she told Middle East Eye. “There are no innocent people in Gaza. Everybody who has refused to leave the north is a collaborator.”