After the genocidal war and famine, leading Israeli politicians claim they are ready to settle Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotric have given the clearest indication yet that they are considering establishing new Jewish settlements in the remnants of the Gaza Strip, nearly three years after their country genocidal war launched against the Palestinians living in the enclave.
Last Monday, Smotrics – who tied his participation in the government coalition to gaining greater control over Israel's settlement policy – told reporters that his ministry had drawn up plans to establish three settlements in northern Gaza and that all that was needed to move forward was Netanyahu's green light.
The next day, Netanyahu came close to giving it a go. In an interview with Israel’s decidedly right-wing Channel 14, he refused to rule out the possibility of establishing settlements in Gaza. „The question is whether you want to act or talk,” the prime minister replied cryptically when asked if there was a possibility of establishing settlements. „And yes, I prefer not to deal with that.”
Israel's current settlements – located in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem – are illegal under international law.
While paving the way for any future settlements in Gaza—and what Netanyahu euphemistically called to Channel 14 viewers the „voluntary migration” of the remaining population (a process widely described by international lawyers as ethnic cleansing)—Israel has killed more than 73,000 residents. At the same time, UN-backed experts have accused Israel of deliberately causing famine among survivors in Gaza and, most recently, of continuing the genocide by targeting children.
It is difficult to determine how far preparations for the establishment of physical settlements have progressed in Gaza, which previously had 21 illegal settlements before the Israeli government decided to dismantle them in 2005. The area north of Gaza City has been largely razed to the ground by Israel, destroying almost everything that was not directly targeted by airstrikes in a deliberate campaign to demolish Palestinian homes and institutions.
Supporters of Gaza settlements see the empty land as a perfect opportunity to fortify a buffer zone between Israel and Gaza. With elections approaching in Israel, politicians like Smotrich and Netanyahu have an advantage in suggesting that this is the plan.
„The Israeli public has been exposed to almost endless incitement to genocide since October 7,” said Neve Gordon, an Israel professor at Queen Mary University of London. „Those who watch the mainstream Israeli media don’t understand the scale of the destruction that has taken place in Gaza, or the suffering that has taken place there.”
„There are places, tourist attractions, where some Israeli people go to watch the bombings. That’s the constituency that Smotricis’s statements are targeting. These are the people who would like to see more settlements in Gaza, but that doesn’t mean we don’t take it seriously,” he said. „[But] this is not just rhetoric. There is a determined and consistent drive from most Israeli politics to repopulate the Gaza Strip.”
History of ethnic cleansing
Since the 2005 withdrawal, a growing number of hardline religious Israelis have sought to repopulate the Gaza Strip. Since then, analysts and historians have described a concerted effort by supporters of the settlements to take over the institutions of Israeli public life, gaining a dominant voice in the education system, the media, and other areas of government.
Organizations of the far-right settler Nachala movement openly advocate for the resettlement of the enclave. During the months of Israel's genocidal war, Nachala held a conference specifically promoting Israel's return to Gaza under the title "Settlement Brings Security and Victory." It was attended by several government ministers, including Smotrics and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Despite what critics say is a success in establishing settlements on a scale unmatched since the 1990s, Smotrics continues to struggle in the polls. His Religious Zionist Party may not win the minimum number of votes needed to enter parliament in the next elections, which are due before the end of October. This may explain why Smotrics is keen to hype the prospects of Gaza settlements and attract more support from the Israeli right.
Political advantage
The irony is peculiar to observers like Orly Noy, the Hebrew-speaking Local Call magazine editor. Szmotrics was „the most effective member of the cabinet in advancing the interests of West Bank settlers,” he said. „In that sense, he carried out a real revolution,” referring to the judicial, economic, and infrastructural reforms initiated under Szmotrics’s watch, for which he apparently receives little credit among his base.
For Netanyahu, the risk is potentially more dramatic, analysts point out. Currently indicted on multiple corruption charges, the prime minister faces a prison sentence if found guilty. There is also widespread outrage over his apparent determination to avoid an independent investigation into his own government’s failures in the October 7 attack, perhaps giving him reason to suggest he is moving forward with settlement construction and the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza.
„Look, if you want to stand out before the election, now is the time,” said political analyst Ori Goldberg. „This is your moment, and if you propose to impose further hardship on the Palestinians, there will not be a single Jewish [parliamentary] member of parliament — with the exception of [leftist] Ofer Cassif — who will oppose it.”
„People don’t care anymore,” he said of the prospects for Israeli resistance to the settlements in Gaza. „There’s just nothing [about the suffering in Gaza]. People have become indifferent. There’s just a big black hole.”
Greed
While the Israeli government may not have domestic concerns about the construction of settlements in Gaza, it has to deal with international backlash – and that may be why the project is not getting beyond the planning stage. But will Israel suffer any real, lasting consequences from the construction of settlements in Gaza?
In the eyes of many, the Israeli government's freedom of action stems from the unwavering diplomatic and military support of the United States, as well as financial support from Europe, which, despite its occasional criticism, remains Israel's most important trading partner.
„In terms of international reactions,” said Hugh Lovatt, a writer at the European Council on Foreign Relations, on the prospects for settlement in Gaza, „we have seen the largest expansion of settlements since the Oslo Accords of the 1990s, starting in 2023, and plans that make the two-state solution obsolete.”.
„And while there has been some criticism, there has been very little action,” Lovatt said. „I don’t know if it would be any different if it were happening in Gaza. It’s true that Gaza has been the focus of a lot of international attention, particularly American, since the ceasefire in October, which the West Bank can’t say for itself.”
But it is unclear whether this attention would deter Israel’s attempts to build settlements. „Would Israel risk such an obvious move to block Trump’s Gaza plan? I’m not sure,” the US president said of the Gaza plan, which has been heavily criticized for allowing Israel to continue its presence in the Palestinian territories but makes no mention of Israeli settlements.
„And although Europe has had a very poor performance so far, the expansion of Israeli settlements into Gaza could spur European states to take action as well,” he said.
