From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, December 23, 2025
Walking back comments, Katz says government ‘has no intention’ of establishing Gaza settlements
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Defense Minister Israel Katz appears to walk back comments made earlier today about establishing settlements inside Gaza.
In a statement sent to reporters, Katz’s office says that “the government has no intention of establishing settlements in the Gaza Strip.”
He asserts that comments made to settler leaders this morning about sending pioneer groups into northern Gaza “were made solely in a security context.”
During that conversation, Katz told a group of settlement leaders that “with God’s help, when the time comes, we will also establish… pioneer groups in northern Gaza, in place of the settlements that were evacuated.”
He added that Israel will not ever fully leave the Strip: “We are deep inside Gaza and we will never leave Gaza — there will be no such thing. We are here to defend and to prevent what happened from happening again.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly asserted that Israel has no intention of reestablishing settlements inside Gaza, but several ministers in his far-right government have called to do so over the past two years. Under the Trump peace plan, Israeli troops would eventually completely withdraw from Gaza with the deployment of the International Stabilization Force.
The Times of Israel Community.