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Wednesday, July 30, 2025
22 ministers, lawmakers demand Katz allow settlement group to tour northern Gaza, check locations for future settlements
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Twenty-two cabinet ministers and coalition lawmakers sign a letter asking Defense Minister Israel Katz to approve a tour of northern Gaza by settlement groups in order to examine possible sites for future Israeli settlements.
The letter, signed by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Culture Minister Miki Zohar and Social Equality Minister May Golan, among others, calls on Katz to “approve a patrol into the northern border area of the Gaza Strip as part of an initiative by the Nachala Movement’s settlement cadres to examine settlement options in the area.”
The Nachala organization is involved in the construction of illegal settlement outposts. Its leader, Daniella Weiss, has been sanctioned by Canada and the UK.
“The Gaza Strip is no longer a geographical area — it is the living heart of the Land of Israel, an area with deep biblical, historical, and national roots. The return of the Jewish people to these places is not just a strategic step — but a return to Zion in the deepest and most practical sense,” they continue, arguing that Israel should resettle northern Gaza because it is under full IDF control and “empty of Gaza residents.”
Noting that residents of nearby Israeli towns and communities close to the Gaza border have been allowed to return home, the nationalist politicians argue that “in the absence of a security impediment to the move, preventing the tour from entering could be perceived as taking a political stance and silencing the right, which is calling on the government to act to resettle Gaza.”
“We would like to join the tour in question ourselves,” they add.
Among the other signatories to the letter are Likud MKs Dan Illouz and Afef Abed, the party’s only Druze lawmaker, as well as Otzma Yehudit’s Limor Son Har-Melech and Religious Zionism’s Ohad Tal.
In a post on X, Nachala says the letter indicates support from a third of the coalition for its mission.
“The demand is being made as part of the call to settle the northern sector as an immediate first step toward reconquest, expulsion, and settlement of the entire Gaza Strip,” it says.
“The northern border was conquered and expelled — now is the time to settle.”
The Times of Israel Community.