Israeli settler leader 'visited Gaza' to scout settlement locations
Israeli settler leader Daniella Weiss has said she recently visited northern Gaza to scout locations for future Israeli settlements there.
During an interview on Channel 13 on Saturday, Weiss said she has the support of 740 families to establish settlements in the Palestinian territory and was hoping to grow support from "one to two million Israelis".
"Yesterday we were on a tour at a temporary site near the Gaza border, where we set up 40 trailers that we will eventually move into Gaza," she said on the evening news programme.
"The truth is we are still a few steps away from real estate, but yes, I was in the field," Weiss told the interviewer when he questioned if she entered Gaza after 7 October.
Though she hesitated to go into more detail on her alleged visit, she said the Netzarim Corridor was the "place we are aiming for more than anything."
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
An Israeli army spokesperson told Channel 13: "Danielle Weiss's entry into the Gaza Strip is not recognised and was not authorised through the standard channels."
He did not deny her claim and said if the visit was true, then it was "in violation of the law and regulations".
The Netzarim Corridor is an Israeli-built buffer zone that dissects the Gaza strip from east to west, preventing the movement of people between the southern and northern parts.
The 6km stretch of land is named after Netzarim, one of the illegal Israeli settlements that existed in the Gaza Strip before the Israeli withdrawal in 2005.
That name could be a nod at re-establishing illegal settlements in the Strip - something far-right Israeli ministers have frequently called for since October last year.
The Netzarim route consists of military bases and is used by Israeli forces to monitor and control the movement of Palestinians between northern and southern Gaza. It has also been used to launch military operations.
Analysts say that Israeli control of the newly created corridor is an attempt to permanently dictate life in Gaza beyond the war, without necessarily occupying the entire territory.
'We turned the unrealistic into realistic'
When asked if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would object to settlements in the northern governorate, Weiss said "if it's unrealistic, we'll make it realistic".
"What did we do here in the settlements of Judea and Samaria [West Bank]? We turned the unrealistic into the realistic. We will do the same there."
'We have the experience that we have accumulated in 55 years of settling [the West Bank]'
- Daniella Weiss
Weiss’s Nachala movement, a settler organisation, has been building illegal settlements on land in the occupied West Bank for decades. Earlier this year, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories since 1967 is unlawful and should end as soon as possible.
Weiss has previously said the settler movement planned to use the experience it had gained building settlements in the West Bank and the Golan Heights, internationally recognised Syrian territory annexed by Israel, to send “pioneers” to Gaza.
About 9,000 settlers previously lived in 21 Israeli settlements in Gaza but these were dismantled following the Israeli military's withdrawal from the territory in 2005.
Weiss said: “We have political support, we have public support, and we have the experience that we have accumulated in 55 years of settling Judea [and] Samaria [the occupied West Bank], the Golan Heights.
“We plan to take what we have acquired in the years of settling Judea and Samaria and to do the same thing here in Gaza."
Middle East Eye delivers independent and unrivalled coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. To learn more about republishing this content and the associated fees, please fill out this form. More about MEE can be found here.
