GAZA: Defence Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday vowed Israel will remain in Gaza and pledged to establish outposts in the north of the Palestinian territory, according to a video of a speech published by Israeli media. His remarks, reported across Israeli media, come as a fragile US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas holds in Gaza. Mediators are pressing for the implementation of the next phases of the truce, which would involve an Israeli withdrawal from the territory.
Speaking at an event in the Israeli settlement of Beit El in the occupied West Bank, Katz said: “We are deep inside Gaza, and we will never leave Gaza — there will be no such thing.” “We are there to protect, to prevent what happened (from happening again),” he added, according to a video published by Israeli news site Ynet. Katz also vowed to establish outposts in the north of Gaza in place of settlements that had been evacuated during Israel’s unilateral disengagement from the territory in 2005. “When the time comes, we will establish in northern Gaza, Nahal outposts in place of the communities that were uprooted,” Katz said, referring to military-agricultural settlements set up by Israeli soldiers. “We will do this in the right way and at the appropriate time.”
Katz’s remarks were slammed by former minister and chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, who accused the government of “acting against the broad national consensus, during a critical period for Israel’s national security.” “While the government votes with one hand in favour of the Trump plan, with the other hand it sells fables about isolated settlement nuclei in the (Gaza) Strip,” he wrote on X, referring to the Gaza peace plan brokered by US President Donald Trump.
The next phases of Trump’s plan would involve an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the establishment of an interim authority to govern the territory in place of Hamas and the deployment of an international stabilisation force. It also envisages the demilitarisation of Gaza, including the disarmament of Hamas, which the group has refused. On Thursday, several Israelis entered the Gaza Strip in defiance of army orders and held a symbolic flag-raising ceremony to call for the reoccupation and resettlement of the Palestinian territory.
In a devastated village near Khan Yunis city, recent Israeli drone and artillery strikes shattered the tenuous sense of peace delivered by a ceasefire that has largely held since October 10. Residents say the strikes have targeted neighbourhoods east of the so-called Yellow Line — a demarcation established under the truce between Israel and Hamas. The Israeli military says its troops are deployed in the area in accordance with the ceasefire framework, accusing Hamas militants of “crossing the Yellow Line and carrying out terrorist activities”.
Since the war began, more than 70,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian territory’s health ministry. The vast majority of Gaza’s more than two million residents were displaced during the war, many multiple times. A fragile ceasefire has been in place, though both sides regularly accuse each other of violations. Under the truce, Israeli forces withdrew to positions east of the Yellow Line.
For Palestinian officials, the line is seen as a tool for permanent displacement. “The objective is to frighten residents, expel them from their areas and force them west,” said Alaa al Batta, mayor of Khan Yunis, denouncing the bombardments as “violations of the ceasefire agreement”. For now, residents feel trapped between bombardment and displacement, uncertain how long they can endure. Despite the danger, Abdel Hamid, 70, refuses to leave his home located north of Khan Yunis, where he lives with his five children. — AFP
