Israel wants to double population living next to Gaza border in next decade

Ze’ev Elkin, the minister in charge of rehabilitating the northern and southern borders, says the Tekuma Directorate wants to double the population of the Gaza border area to 120,000 people by October 7, 2033.

The date will mark a decade since Hamas’s deadly invasion of the region, during which 1,200 mainly civilians were slaughtered and 251 abducted to the Gaza Strip.

But such an increase should still reflect the character of the area today, with a similar balance between urban and rural, and the choice of the character of each community left to the community itself to decide, he adds.

Aviad Friedman, the new head of the Tekuma Directorate and the first person to hold the job full-time, said there could only be one top priority, and that was growth. “Victory will only be meaningful if the people on the other side of the border look at us and say ‘I fought in order to destroy them and look, they’ve doubled [in size].'”

The two men speak to the media following a day of consultations in the southern city of Sderot with around 450 representatives of government, local government, kibbutzim, moshavim and civil society organizations on a new draft work plan for the directorate, which they say they hope will be finalized by Independence Day on May 1.

The directorate will lose NIS 1 billion ($267 million) out of NIS 5 billion ($1.3 billion) originally pledged by the government to develop the region.

The final work plan will have to reflect the cut, which Friedman says will be decided in full consultation with the local stakeholders.