Settler activists caught by IDF troops after crossing into Gaza

A group of Israeli settler activists who crossed the border into the Gaza Strip were caught by IDF troops and returned to Israel.

The IDF says that the civilians were stopped in the military’s buffer zone inside the Strip, before being brought back to Israel and handed over to the police for further questioning.

The incident comes as hundreds of activists from the ultra-nationalist Nachala settlement organization stage a protest on the Gaza border, which the army says is a closed military zone.

The group says that some of its activists crossed the border into Gaza to plant trees, as part of its attempts to reestablish settlements that were fully evacuated during Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from the Strip in 2005.

The IDF says that troops and police officers are deployed to the border and working to prevent the protesters from crossing the fence.

“Approaching the barrier area and entering it is dangerous and disrupts the activity of security forces in the area,” the IDF says, adding that it “condemns any activity that diverts the attention of commanders and combat soldiers from defense and counter-terrorism missions.”

The Israeli side of the Gaza border barrier is currently unprotected in some areas, as the IDF is widely deployed deeper within the Strip.

Israeli civilians have on several occasions attempted to enter Gaza since the start of the war, often pro-settlement activists seeking to reclaim Israel’s former communities in the Strip.