The Cradle / July 9, 2024
Israel’s religious settler movement has strong support in the army as it establishes infrastructure for a long term occupation
The Israeli military is creating the infrastructure for an “indefinite Israeli presence in Gaza,” which is gradually paving the way for religious Jews to begin settling the devastated enclave, Haaretz reported on 9 July.
Based on satellite imagery analysis and other open sources, Haaretz estimates that the Israeli army now controls about 26 percent of Gaza.
The Israeli newspaper reports that in these occupied areas, the army is expanding military bases, building infrastructure, and even paving roads in what one senior army officer described as “an effort at prolonged occupation.”
A key to the long-term occupation of Gaza, according to Haaretz, is the Netzarim Corridor, a security road that bisects the enclave in half. The bases the army has established in Netzarim, including within the Turkish Hospital, allow the Israeli military to prevent displaced Palestinians from returning to their homes in northern Gaza from the tent encampments in the south where they are now forced to live.
CNN reported on 9 July that according to the UN, some 1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza, nine out of 10 people, are now estimated to be internally displaced, many of them multiple times.
The occupation of so much territory in Gaza is, in turn, paving the way for the reestablishment of Jewish settlements, which were evacuated in 2005, most notably Gush Katif.
Support for Jewish settlement in Gaza is visible among the soldiers fighting there, making the growing influence of religious Zionism in the army apparent, Haaretz stated.
For example, many soldiers in Gaza, including officers, have been seen displaying signs and flags calling for resettlement as well as dancing with Torah scrolls.
Israeli journalists have reported that a synagogue offering daily worship services has been established at the Turkish Hospital in Netzarim. Videos posted to social media showed soldiers celebrating the Passover seder at the hospital while also holding briefings and carrying out military drills in the open air.
Throughout Gaza, soldiers have also put up mezuzahs, a piece of parchment inscribed with specific Hebrew verses from the Torah, which Jews fix to the doorposts of their homes.
During several mezuzah installments, they recited the blessing, “He who establishes the boundary of the widow,” customarily recited during the renewal of a Jewish settlement.
Haaretz adds that senior officers participated in these ceremonies, including Col. Liron Batito of the Givati Brigade and Col. Benny Aharon, the commander of the 401st Brigade until recently.
One way in which Israeli Jews could begin settling in Gaza is by first living among the soldiers in the military bases.
The effort to establish Jewish settlements in Gaza has significant support within Israel’s political leadership. At least 12 ministers, one-third of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, have publicly stated they support the” Judaization” of Gaza.
Most prominent among them are Finance Minister and Minister in the Defense Ministry Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Ministry Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Both mix religious and security justifications for the continued slaughter of Palestinians and theft of Palestinian land.
Smotrich called for the army “to erase the memory of Amalek from under the heavens,” while Ben-Gvir claimed that the only way to achieve security for Israel was through the settlement of Gaza.
In this context, Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected efforts to reach a ceasefire to end the war, even at the cost of abandoning Israelis captured by Hamas who are still in Gaza.
Haaretz concludes its report by writing, “While the parties argue and the war rages on, the settlement movement is gradually approaching the fulfillment of the promise it made almost 20 years ago – to return to Gaza.”
