On Wednesday, six cabinet ministers and 16 coalition MKs requested that Defense Minister Israel Katz approve a scouting mission for the activists inside Gaza as part of Nachala\u2019s plan to found Jewish towns in the war-torn territory. Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi (Likud) and MK Limor Son Har Melech (Otzma Yehudit) joined Wednesday evening\u2019s march.<\/p>\n
Katz has yet to publicly respond to the request.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe want all of the Gaza Strip,\u201d Karhi said in a video he posted to social media from the march. \u201cNow our soldiers are there, conquering the territory, and Jewish settlement is a must. That\u2019s the reality.\u201d<\/p>\n \t Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi attends a National Security Committee meeting at the Knesset, January 8, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n The activists waved Israeli flags alongside the orange banners of Gush Katif \u2014 the bloc of Gaza settlements Israel evacuated, along with some 8,000 settlers and all of its troops, in the 2005 disengagement. The marchers proceeded from Sderot to the Asaf Siboni observation point, overlooking the ruins of northern Gaza\u2019s Beit Hanoun.<\/p>\n Nachala chairwoman and veteran settlement activist Daniella Weiss said ahead of the march that a thousand families would head toward the lookout point, some of whom would enter the territory if Katz approved.<\/p>\n \u201cThey will enter inside the northern demarcation line, see the remnants of what used to be the settlements, the remnants of buildings built by the Gazans and which were destroyed, and mark where we hopefully very soon will establish new settlements,\u201d said Weiss in a video message issued Wednesday morning by the organization.<\/p>\n Weiss is a leading voice among a vocal segment of Israelis who never gave up the dream of returning to Gaza. Nearly 22 months into the war with Hamas, and with far-right politicians in senior government positions, they say that prospect feels more realistic than at any point in the past two decades.<\/p>\n Activists have held gatherings and conferences about resettlement, attended by lawmakers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s coalition. Last week, Smotrich headlined a conference at the Knesset about making US President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cGaza Riviera\u201d plan a reality \u2014 with proposals laid out to build Israeli cities and institutions across the war-torn Strip in tandem with a plan to relocate the Palestinians living there now.<\/p>\n \t Israeli far-right activist and founder of the Nachala settler organization Daniella Weiss at a hill overlooking the Gaza Strip near the border fence ahead of a right-wing rally on July 30, 2025. (Menahem KAHANA \/ AFP)<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s closer than ever. It\u2019s a realistic work plan,\u201d Smotrich said this week in a speech at the Gush Katif museum. \u201cWe didn\u2019t sacrifice all this to transfer Gaza from one Arab to another Arab. Gaza is an inseparable part of the land of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cI don\u2019t want to go back to Gush Katif \u2014 it\u2019s too small. It needs to be much bigger. Gaza today allows us to think a little bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n A poll published Wednesday by the right-leaning Israel Hayom daily found that 52 percent of Israelis support reestablishing settlements in Gaza. That reflects a jump from previous polls that have found majorities opposed to resettlement. It was not clear whether the survey included Arab Israelis, who are generally opposed to Israel resettling Gaza.<\/p>\n Netanyahu has previously ruled out<\/a> reestablishing settlements, but Weiss said the march was a way to pressure the Israel Defense Forces to allow it. \u201cIt\u2019s only when we hold on to the soil, to the grains of sand, that the army will raise a white flag [on its objections],\u201d she asserted.<\/p>\n Far-right groups joined the protest, marching toward the border and chanting: \u201cGaza, ours forever!\u201d<\/p>\n Loudspeakers blared: \u201cThe way to defeat Hamas is to take back our land.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI have faith in God and in the government,\u201d said Sharon Emouna, 58, who came from her home in a West Bank settlement to support the Nachala movement. \u201cI\u2019m just here in support, to say that the Land of Israel is promised to the Jewish people and it\u2019s our right to settle there.\u201d<\/p>\n Israeli soldiers blocked the final short walk to Gaza, across a parched landscape of low brush scorched by the summer sun.<\/p>\n
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