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Israeli ministers, lawmakers seek to tour northern Gaza to check future settlement sites

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 30 July 2025 5:10 PM

Twenty-two cabinet ministers and several lawmakers from the ruling coalition of Benjamin Netanyahu have demanded a tour of northern Gaza by settlement groups to examine possible sites for future Israeli settlements.

In a letter on Wednesday, they called on the minister of military affairs, Israel Katz, to "approve a patrol into the northern border area of the Gaza Strip as part of an initiative by the Nachala movement's settlement cadres to examine settlement options in the area."

"We would like to join the tour in question ourselves."

The letter argued that Israel should resettle northern Gaza because it is under full military control and "empty of Gaza residents."

"The northern border was conquered and expelled — now is the time to settle."

"The Gaza Strip is no longer a geographical area — it is the living heart of the land of Israel," they continued.

The Nachala organization is involved in the construction of illegal settlement outposts across the occupied territories.

In a post on X, Nachala said the letter indicates support for its settlement projects.

"The demand is being made as part of the call to settle the northern sector as an immediate first step toward reconquest, expulsion, and settlement of the entire Gaza Strip," it said.

A group of far-right Israeli politicians and settlers met in the Knesset this week to discuss a plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza, during a conference called "The Riviera in Gaza: From vision to reality."

Among the speakers were the right-wing minister of finance, Bezalel Smotrich, and settler leader Daniella Weiss.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on July 28 that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had decided to propose a plan to his cabinet for the gradual annexation of parts of Gaza in an attempt to persuade Smotrich to stay in the ruling coalition.

The report further described the plan as a political maneuver by Netanyahu, suggesting that the intention is to maintain the stability of his ruling coalition by appeasing Smotrich.

Weiss, the settler leader, said the Palestinians would be relocated to Egypt and other unspecified "African countries."

"The Gazans will not remain there. They will go to other countries," she said

Weiss said she had a list of 1,000 Israeli families who had already signed up to live on land in Gaza once Palestinian residents were pushed out.

"My plan is to make [Gaza] paradise, to make it Singapore," she said.

The war has leveled much of Gaza and destroyed basic civilian infrastructure. The "Riviera plan" would build luxury resorts on the ruins of Gaza once Israel stopped bombing it.

The plan would require Gaza's existing population of about two million to be emptied out. Legal experts warn that forcible displacement on such a scale would amount to ethnic cleansing.