a year ago

Israeli minister calls for return of illegal settlers to Gaza

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says a Jewish civilian presence in Gaza coupled with the displacement of Palestinians will aid Israel in controlling the territory.

AP

Bezalel Smotrich is a settler in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, living in the settlement of Kedumim, which is deemed illegal under international law. His residence was also built illegally outside the settlement proper. / Photo: AP

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for the return of illegal Jewish settlers to Gaza after the war and said its Palestinian population should be encouraged to emigrate.

"To have security we must control the territory," Smotrich told Israel's Army Radio on Sunday in response to a question about the prospect of re-establishing settlements in Gaza.

"In order to control the territory militarily for a long time, we need a civilian presence."

Smotrich, head of the ultranationalist Religious Zionism party that is part of the ruling coalition, also said Israel should "encourage" the territory's approximately 2.4 million Palestinians to relocate to other countries.

"If we act in a strategically correct way and encourage emigration, if there are 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza and not two million, the whole discourse of the day after (the war) will be completely different," he said.

"We will help rehabilitate these refugees in other countries in a good and humane manner with the cooperation of the international community and Arab countries around us."

All settlements on occupied Palestinian land are regarded as illegal under international law, regardless of whether they are approved by Israel.

Palestinians end dark year, with no end in sight to war

Occupation, blockade, death and displacement

Israel launched a relentless military campaign in Gaza after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7.

The Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not officially suggested plans to evict Palestinians or to send Jewish settlers back to the territory since the war broke out.

Israel unilaterally withdrew the last of its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, ending its presence inside the Palestinian territory that began in 1967 but maintaining complete control over the territory's borders.

Israel imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the territory in 2007 after Hamas was elected into power. Israel is still regarded internationally as an occupying power in Gaza.

The October 7 Hamas attack left about 1,140 Israelis dead according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Israel's ongoing air and ground attacks on Gaza have killed more than 21,800 people, mostly women and children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza.

As heavy combat rages on, 85 percent of people in Gaza have been displaced, according to the United Nations.