IDF declares Gaza border a closed military zone ahead of planned march

Thousands to march on Gaza Strip, calling on the government to begin reestablishing Jewish towns in Gaza before the Knesset elections.

By World Israel News Staff

The IDF declared much of the Gaza border region a closed military zone Sunday as thousands of Israelis prepared to march from Yad Mordechai toward the enclave in support of reestablishing Jewish communities evacuated in 2005.

The demonstration, organized by the Nahala settlement movement, was scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. at Yad Mordechai Junction, north of Gaza. Organizers promoted the event as the “March of Thousands” and said its purpose was to press the government to begin renewing Israeli settlement in the Strip before this year’s election.

Organizers said the march would be attended by bereaved families, wounded veterans, Gaza border residents and groups that have organized prospective communities intended for the territory.

“The reestablishment of Jewish communities in the Gaza region before the 2026 elections” is the stated political goal of the event, according to promotional material cited by Israel Hayom.

The march’s central slogan is: “Nisanit, Dugit and Alei Sinai, now!”

The three former Israeli communities were located in northern Gaza and were dismantled during Israel’s 2005 disengagement from the territory. Unlike the larger Gush Katif bloc in southern Gaza, the communities named by the organizers stood close to Israel’s northern border with the enclave.

Nahala has described the march as a step toward “returning home after 21 years” and has focused its immediate campaign on renewed settlement in northern Gaza.

Ahead of the event, Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor signed an order closing a broad section of the western Negev from 8 a.m. Sunday until 8 a.m. Monday.

The restricted zone extends from the Yad Mordechai area, west of Route 34, to Shaar HaNegev Junction and then southward along the Gaza border, west of Route 232, to Kerem Shalom.

The order does not prevent residents or authorized employees from entering Israeli communities inside the designated area. Security forces were deployed along roads leading toward the border to enforce the restrictions and prevent participants from approaching or crossing into Gaza.

The IDF said the order followed an assessment indicating that some marchers intended “to enter the territory of the Gaza Strip illegally.”

The military regularly uses closed-zone orders to restrict civilian access to operational areas, particularly when demonstrations or unauthorized settlement activity could interfere with troops or expose civilians to danger.

Organizers did not publicly renounce the goal of advancing into Gaza, although it was unclear how close the march would be permitted to approach the border. The army did not say whether it expected an organized attempt to breach the boundary or whether its concern was based on declarations by individual participants.

The planned event has received support from senior members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition.

An advertisement distributed for the march named Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich among the Cabinet members expected to attend. It also listed lawmakers and more than a dozen parties and right-wing organizations as supporters, including Netanyahu’s Likud.

The participation of serving ministers creates an unusual confrontation in which members of the government are expected to join an event that prompted the military to close the surrounding region over fears of unlawful entry.

Supporters of renewed settlement argue that Israel’s withdrawal of its military and civilian population from Gaza in 2005 allowed Hamas to strengthen its control of the territory and eventually develop the capabilities used in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

They contend that a permanent Israeli civilian presence would strengthen security along the border, prevent Gaza from again becoming a base for attacks and demonstrate that terrorism results in the loss of territory rather than Israeli withdrawal.

Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have repeatedly endorsed rebuilding Israeli communities in Gaza. The issue has moved from the political margins into a broader debate within the governing coalition, with several ministers and lawmakers participating in conferences and campaigns promoting resettlement.

The march comes amid wider political efforts to advance settlement projects inside Gaza. Israeli ministers have recently promoted plans for military-linked Nahal communities in parts of the enclave, though the eventual status and purpose of those proposed sites remain disputed.

Nahala has pushed for civilian communities rather than temporary military outposts. The movement has organized settlement groups, public conferences and previous events near the Gaza border in an effort to build political pressure for a formal government decision.

A similar gathering in October 2024 brought ministers, lawmakers and activists to the border to call for the restoration of communities evacuated under the disengagement. Sunday’s organizers presented the new march as an effort to move beyond conferences and public declarations toward concrete action.

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