Ultranationalsts who want to re-establish settlements march to Gaza border

Groups of ultranationalist activists hoping to establish new Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip have set out from a meeting point close to Sderot and are walking westward toward a lookout point less than a kilometer away from the border with the Gaza Strip.

The activists are part of several cadres that have been formed by the Nachala settlement organization to establish a number of new settlements in the event that authorization for such a move is approved by the government.

Earlier on Wednesday, six cabinet ministers and 16 coalition MKs requested that Defense Minister Israel Katz approve a scouting mission for the activists inside Gaza as part of Nachala’s plan to re-establish Jewish settlements in the war-torn territory.

Katz has yet to publicly respond.

“The idea is to advance the idea of settlement in Gaza. Zionism, settlement, security,” said Nachala chairwoman and veteran settlements activist Daniella Weiss in a video message issued this morning by the organization.

Weiss said that one thousand families who are part of the settlement cadres would march toward the lookout point over Gaza, some of whom would enter the territory if Katz approves.

“They will enter inside the northern demarcation line, see the remnants of what used to be the settlements, the remnants of buildings built by the Gazans and which were destroyed, and mark where we hopefully very soon will establish new settlements,” said Weiss.