Ministers join settler activists on march through closed military zone to Gaza border

Government ministers on Sunday joined thousands of settler activists in a march through a closed military zone to the Gaza border, flouting the orders of IDF officers at the scene in a show of support for Jewish settlement of the territory.

The “March of Thousands,” marking 21 years since Israel’s evacuation of its Gush Katif settlement bloc inside the Gaza Strip, drew leading politicians from the religious Zionist camp, such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, as well as politicians from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

According to event organizers in the Nachala settler group, a total of 28 ministers and coalition lawmakers attended the event. A spokeswoman called the support from more mainstream elements of the Israeli right “very significant”relative to previous attempted marches into the Strip.

The marchers did not appear to succeed in crossing into Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces declared the area surrounding Gaza a closed military zone ahead of the march, from Sunday at 8 a.m. until the same time on Monday.

Despite the order — and the hundreds of police officers and IDF soldiers dispatched to the scene — the marchers gathered at 5 p.m. near Zikim Beach, and within less than ten minutes, managed to pass the first army roadblock.

When marchers began to cross past the checkpoint, soldiers appeared visibly agitated but refrained from making arrests, and retreated to a point further down the route, erecting another roadblock.

This pattern repeated itself before marchers reached the Gaza border fence, with The Times of Israel witnessing participants skirt at least four roadblocks erected by the army as they inched closer and closer to the Strip, with some nearing the frontier in an anarchic procession southward.

Younger and more agile marchers initially traipsed up sand dunes, through brush and over barbed wire to reach their destination, as army jeeps and ATVs were blocking the roads. As security forces let their guard down, larger families began to proceed down the paved road without interference.

Religious Zionist marchers sang and chanted gleefully during the procession. Many wore stickers reading, “Gaza is ours forever,” and held flags calling to build a Third Temple. Some participants attended alone, but the vast majority came with their families.

Nachala claimed shortly before the march set out that organizers had reached an agreement with the army permitting them to gather at the entrance to Zikim Beach, though several IDF officers at the scene insisted no such permit was given for the march to proceed.

“Thank you to the tens of thousands that came as close as possible to our Gaza region with a clear call: we are settling Gaza now!” read a statement from Nachala.

According to organizers, the march was aimed at pressuring the government to sign off on the reestablishment of three evacuated settlements in northern Gaza — Elei Sinai, Dugit and Nisanit.

The official endpoint was atop a hill with a view of what was once Elei Sinai. Many of the marchers made it to the site, where they erected an Israeli flag. Nachala’s founder, Daniella Weiss, went back and forth down the road, urging participants to complete the march’s final leg.

Ben Gvir, meanwhile, commended the marchers and expressed his wish for Jewish settlement throughout Gaza. “If they had said three years ago that we would control 70% of the territory of the Gaza Strip, no one would have believed it,” he said.

“I say from here: There will be Jewish settlement in all of Gaza. Encourage voluntary immigration [of Palestinians to other countries], send those who need it to their countries. And we return home. Gaza is ours,” he continued.

Speaking about a kilometer from the border, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi of Likud also expressed his support for Jewish settlement in Gaza, calling to “settle in all the regions of land granted to our forefathers, to show our enemies that it’s not worth messing with us, to show a meaningful picture of victory.”

Karhi went on to urge Israelis to “plant deep roots in every land granted to our forefathers, including the Gaza region.”

Smotrich was seen shaking hands with and offering his support to the marchers near the beginning of the route. “God forbid, if the left comes to power, this whole thing could go down the drain, and we will march here again to prevent evictions and destruction,” he said.

Thousands attended the march, though exact estimates varied. Police told the Ynet outlet that some 5,000 people joined in the procession, while organizers insisted the number was closer to 15,000.