Right-wing group sets up settlement near Gaza, demands government move it into Strip

Over 700 people helped set up 'Pioneers of Gaza' in forest overlooking north Gaza; government minister among those at 'temporary' encampment

By ToI Staff Today, 10:11 am
People build a structure at the 'Pioneers of Gaza' settlement point in the Simhoni Forest in southern Israel, on the Strip's border, in a video published by the Nachala settlement movement on October 16, 2026. (Screen capture: X/Nachala)

The Nachala settlement movement on Friday said over 700 of its activists established “a new community” in southern Israel overlooking Gaza City, and demanded the government move it into the Strip’s north.

“Security control is not enough. Never in Zionism did a military suffice for the nation of Israel,” said the head of Nachala, veteran far-right activist Daniella Weiss, in a video released by the movement.

Police said officers were supervising the “Pioneers of Gaza” settlement in the Simhoni Forest, on the Strip’s border, in case the settlers tried to breach the border fence.

Footage published by the group showed mainly religious men and boys erecting structures, hanging lights and putting up Israeli flags in the encampment. Some of the structures were adorned with flags that read “Gaza is ours forever.”

According to Nachala, among the hundreds of people on the scene were bereaved families, wounded soldiers and at least one government minister.

“We demand the government stand strong in the face of pressure and immediately order the transfer of the community into the area of the northern perimeter,” Nachala said, referring to the northern section of the Gush Katif settlement bloc that Israel dismantled in Gaza in 2005.

“Gaza is an inseparable part of the Land of Israel, and only the taking of land and settlement will instill a clear sense of defeat in the enemy,” Nachala said.

The group also advertised a Friday event for families at the settlement complete with inflatables, cotton candy and children’s theater. The advertisement said the location of the settlement was “temporary on the way to settlement inside Gaza.”

In a video statement with Weiss as the “Pioneers of Gaza” structures were going up, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party said that “with God’s help, the next government we establish — a strong right-wing government that will bring us to total victory — will keep planting and putting down roots in every part of our fatherland.”

MK Ohad Tal of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism also called, in a post on X, for Netanyahu to “do this correct and Zionist move” and move the settlement into Gaza’s northern perimeter, “which nobody doubts must remain in Israel’s hands.”

MK Limor Son Har-Melech of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit said on X that the “Pioneers of Gaza” settlement was “the real Zionist riposte to terrorism: Not fleeing, but settling; not withdrawal, but returning home.”

While Netanyahu has denied that Israel seeks to resettle the Gaza Strip, multiple members of his coalition have called to do just that following the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023.

 

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