Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that Israel has prepared plans to establish three new settlements in Gaza, noting that all that is required to move forward with this project is the approval of the Prime Minister.
In an official statement, Smotrich said that "the Settlement Administration in the Ministry of Defense, which he heads, has completed the preparatory work for the establishment of three settlements in the northern Gaza Strip," calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to grant the necessary approval in order to "complete the mission and restore real security to the residents of the south."
The Israeli minister's remarks came after his meeting with Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi, during a field tour of Gaza border communities to review rehabilitation projects in areas devastated by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2013, and the subsequent war.
Smotrich stressed the need for the Israeli army to control more than 70 percent of the Gaza Strip, which it currently controls, arguing that establishing Jewish settlements in the Strip would form a security belt for Israeli border communities, adding: "Where there is no settlement, there is no security."
Last April, Smotrich called for the complete occupation and resettlement of the Gaza Strip, insisting that the end of the war against Hamas must be accompanied by territorial expansion, while Netanyahu announced last month that he had ordered the army to take control of 70% of Gaza, a percentage that far exceeds what was allowed by the ceasefire agreement signed with Hamas in October 2015.
Despite Smotrich's insistence, a return to settlement in Gaza faces strong opposition from the United States and remains unlikely in the foreseeable future.
