Israel Katz raises the possibility of establishing settlements in northern Gaza

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz spoke on Tuesday about establishing settlements in northern Gaza, which contradicts the peace plan proposed by US President Donald Trump, which includes a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian territories.

“With the help of God, and when the time comes,” Katz said during his participation in an event in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, “Israel will establish settlement sites in the northern Gaza Strip, on the sites of Israeli settlements that were evacuated 20 years ago.”

This will be done “in the right way and at the right time,” he added.

Katz, a member of the right-wing Likud party, also spoke of a “major revolution” in the West Bank, where Israel recently agreed to establish additional settlements there.

Israeli settlements in lands that Palestinians claim to be part of a future state are widely illegal by the international community and are considered a major obstacle to a negotiated peace settlement.

Last August, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel does not intend to occupy and re-settle the Gaza Strip, and he stated at the time, “This is not my policy.”