‘We will never leave Gaza’ – Israeli defense chief doubles down on plans for post-war Gaza

Israeli Defense Minister denies he walked back plans to settle parts of Gaza Strip, says Israel will never withdraw completely from Gaza under any scenario, envisions army establishing settlements inside buffer zone.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Israel will never completely withdraw from the Gaza Strip, the country’s defense chief said Thursday, doubling down on comments he made two days earlier.

Defense Minister Israel Katz (Likud) spoke with Makor Rishon editor Kalman Libeskind at a national education conference Thursday morning, touching on the future of the Gaza Strip, including the possibility of some form of Israeli resettlement of the coastal enclave.

Two days earlier, Katz announced at an event in Beit El that “when the time comes,” Israel will establish Nahal settlements in the northern Gaza Strip.

Nahal outposts are IDF-established military settlements that often pass through a quasi-military phase and are frequently later converted, by government decision, into civilian towns.

“With God’s help, when the time comes, we will establish Nahal pioneer groups in northern Gaza in place of the settlements that were evacuated, in the proper way and at the appropriate time,” Katz said Tuesday.

Hours later, the minister clarified that the government has no plans to pursue large-scale civilian settlement of the Gaza Strip.

“The government has no intention of establishing settlements in the Gaza Strip,” Katz’s office said.

During the conference Thursday, Katz doubled down on his initial remarks and denied that he had reversed course.

Katz emphasized, however, that he had only discussed the establishment of Nahal outposts, rather than large civilian towns, and that his comments were limited to the area of northern Gaza, where Israel had a civilian presence prior to the 2005 Gaza Disengagement.

Three Israeli towns – Elei Sinai, Dugit, and Nisanit – were evacuated in northern Gaza, close to the Israeli border, as part of the Disengagement.

The defense chief said the outposts would be “military in nature” but left the door open for a transition to quasi-military or civilian status.

“I don’t reverse course. The vision I have held since the beginning of the war is that in the northern buffer zone — the same buffer where settlements were cleared — I said that this is where the model of Nahal groups fits: they are military in nature but have real significance, and there can be a yeshiva there and other things as well.”

Katz appeared to directly contradict the Trump administration’s 20-point Gaza peace plan, stating that under no circumstances will Israel withdraw from the entire Gaza Strip – even if Hamas is ultimately disarmed.

“I said that in Judea and Samaria, we are leading practical sovereignty, and in Gaza we will need to take a practical step. Israel will never leave Gaza.

“Within Gaza there will be a significant security zone, even after we move to the next stage, if Hamas is dismantled and disarmed, which will encircle areas inside Gaza at commanding points in order to protect our towns,” he continued.

“In the northern part, according to my vision, it will be possible in due course, in an orderly manner, to establish Nahal groups. That’s what I said, that’s what I’m saying now, and that’s what I will continue to say.

“Since some tried to interpret my remarks as a declaration about immediately establishing settlements throughout all of Gaza, I clarified my words, and it is appropriate to clarify that there are diplomatic moves and other considerations here.”

Clause 16 of the Trump plan calls for the IDF to “progressively hand over the Gaza territory it occupies” to an international stabilization force until Israeli forces “are withdrawn completely from Gaza… safe for a security perimeter presence that will remain until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat.”