{"id":125406,"date":"2026-07-08T16:29:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T16:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/125406\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T16:29:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T16:29:11","slug":"bezalel-smotrich-israel-will-return-to-whole-of-gaza-should-erase-oslo-accords","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/125406\/","title":{"rendered":"Bezalel Smotrich: Israel ‘will return to whole of Gaza,’ should ‘erase’ Oslo Accords"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beyond reestablishing Gush Katif, the bloc of Israeli settlements in Gaza removed by the state in 2005, Israel will settle all of Gaza, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich<\/a> said in a video interview played at the 2026 Pulse of Israel Conference on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cGush Katif is small,\u201d Smotrich told Pulse of Israel podcast host Avi Abelow. \u201cWe will return to the whole of Gaza in a big way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smotrich\u2019s statements come after he said last Monday that plans to establish three Israeli settlements<\/a> in northern Gaza had been finalized and were waiting for the approval of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n

At the time, he called on the prime minister to give the green light so that implementation of the plans could \u201cbegin immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smotrich\u2019s call for Israel to return to all of Gaza comes as the IDF reportedly has operational control of around 70%<\/a> of the Strip.<\/p>\n

\"FinanceFinance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends a press conference at the Finance Ministry in Jerusalem, July 1, 2026. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL\/FLASH90)<\/p>\n

Further, a security source told Walla last month that it was possible \u201cthat the scope of operational control in Palestinian territory will increase in the coming months.\u201d<\/p>\n

Push for Israeli sovereignty over Gaza may conflict with NCAG plan<\/p>\n

Conversely, a push to assert Israeli sovereignty over Gaza would be on course to collide with numerous diplomatic hurdles, namely the US-backed plan for the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) to take administrative control of the territory.<\/p>\n

Hamas, too, has agreed to dissolve its government and transfer Gaza\u2019s administration to the committee, but analysts and observers remain skeptical about the terror group\u2019s true intentions.<\/p>\n

Still, a spokesperson for Hamas affirmed to the Qatari state-run media giant Al Jazeera this week that the group intended to transfer power to the NCAG, saying that the decision was made \u201cto deny Israel\u2019s excuses<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The terror organization had also announced on Monday that the head of its Emergency Committee had submitted his resignation, stating that it was the first step in dissolving the body that effectively serves as Hamas\u2019s government in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, diplomatic sources told The Jerusalem Post at the time that the move was still insufficient to allow the NCAG into Gaza and that the group had been creating major obstacles in recent talks with the US-backed Board of Peace, including backtracking on earlier agreements and making new demands.<\/p>\n

Smotrich: We are working to repair damage caused by the Oslo Accords<\/p>\n

In the video interview, Abelow says he and Smotrich were speaking in Efrat and that the minister had visited Solomon\u2019s Pools, a trio of ancient reservoirs located north of the community and just south of Bethlehem.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are working hard to repair the terrible damage caused by the Oslo Accords disaster,\u201d Smotrich said.<\/p>\n

The Oslo II Accord, signed by Israel and the PLO in 1995, saw the West Bank divided into three areas. The Palestinian Authority has full civil and security control over Area A.<\/p>\n

It also has civil control over Area B, with shared security control with Israel. Area C, the largest portion of the West Bank, remains under Israeli civil and security control.<\/p>\n

Efrat is located in Area C, while Solomon\u2019s Pools is located in Area A.<\/p>\n

Smotrich added that leaving such a \u201cmagnificent ancient water site\u201d in territory that is under Palestinian auspices was \u201cone of the terrible mistakes\u201d of the accords.<\/p>\n

The minister continued, saying that, to him, there was no difference between areas A, B, and C, and that \u201cthe next step\u201d was to \u201cerase\u201d the Oslo Accords.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause this is our land,\u201d Smotrich continued. \u201cAlso, because everyone understands today, after October 7, how this is insane security-wise and that anyone who wants to be safe in Kfar Saba, Ra\u2019anana, Beer Sheba, Afula, and Tel Aviv needs us here, strong, in control of the entire territory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keshet Neev, Amichai Stein, Amir Bohbot, and Amit Avitan contributed to this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beyond reestablishing Gush Katif, the bloc of Israeli settlements in Gaza removed by the state in 2005, Israel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[85],"tags":[3076,12082,16148,2246,12081,61391,20266,30426,61392,157,156,10056,2338],"class_list":["post-125406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oslo","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-bezalel-smotrich","tag-efrat-settlement","tag-gaza","tag-gaza-strip","tag-gush-katif","tag-hamas","tag-idf","tag-national-committee-for-the-administration-of-gaza-ncag","tag-norway","tag-oslo","tag-oslo-accords","tag-settlements"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116885308635314480","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}