Event calling for Gaza settlements held in closed military zone with IDF permission
Cops provide escort to far-right Nachala activists, prevent counter-protesters from blocking convoy headed to border; IDF approved event on condition that no mobile homes be used
A far-right group lobbying for the establishment of settlements in Gaza held a rally on Thursday inside a closed military zone near Israel’s border with the coastal enclave.
The Israel Defense Forces authorized the event near Mefalsim despite the area being off-limits to civilians, the Haaretz daily reported.
A flyer for the event, which was organized by the Nachala organization, said, “We will accompany the first mobile homes to Gaza to demand the establishment of settlements in the Gaza Strip.”
Haaretz said that the IDF allowed Nachala to hold the event in the closed military zone on the condition that organizers refrain from bringing any mobile homes.
Addressing participants at a meeting point in Sderot, Nachala chairwoman Daniella Weiss, a well-known settler activist, said she ultimately agreed to comply with the army’s demands, which she claimed were “a result of “massive pressure from the left.”
However, she insisted that the group would still march to Gaza “and try to be there as long as possible.”
A convoy without mobile homes then departed from Sderot to the closed military zone in Mefalsim, even enjoying a police escort.
A group of counter-protesters tried to block the convoy, but police prevented them from doing so, telling the anti-settlement activists that their demonstration was illegal.
Ultimately, though, the army prevented the Nachala demonstrators from entering Gaza. Last month, Weiss reportedly managed to illegally sneak into the Strip with several other far-right activists, thanks to assistance from some rogue IDF soldiers.
Speaking to Haaretz near Mefalsim, one of the counter-protesters blasted the Nachala event. “I can’t believe they can think about settling Gaza when there are still 100 hostages there,” he said.
Alon Schuster, an MK from the opposition’s National Unity party and a resident of Mefalsim, criticized the military for barring residents of the area from entering the closed military zone while granting access to the far-right activists.
“There are those who enjoy a weird exception to security rules,” he said, adding that “the mere promotion of the delusion of settlement in Gaza is a blow to Israel’s legitimacy in the world. Settlement in Gaza — God forbid — is a reckless idea militarily, economically and politically, and yet another wound to the nation’s resilience.”
The settler movement has become more vocal and proactive in promoting settlements in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing Gaza war, which was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.
While far-right members of the government have openly supported the idea, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly ruled out the possibility.
Israel used to hold 21 settlements in Gaza until 2006 when it uprooted the communities as part of the so-called disengagement.
