Israeli ministers revive Gaza settlement push as recovery stalls

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has renewed calls to establish Israeli outposts in northern Gaza, reviving a demand that would reshape control of the territory after months of war and a fragile ceasefire. The push matters because a US-brokered plan called for a full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza and barred any return of Israeli settlements, Al Jazeera reported.

Katz told Israel’s Channel 14 last week that he wants three Nahal outposts in areas of northern Gaza. Nahal sites combine a military presence with agricultural activity and have been used by Israel to consolidate control over disputed territory.

He said the move would serve Israel’s security interests, while adding that it would need to be carried out with coordination and at the right time. In December, Katz said the Israeli military would “never leave all of Gaza” and that Nahal posts would be established later, according to Al Jazeera.

Settlement drive gains political backing

Katz’s remarks followed comments by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said the groundwork had been completed for three settlements in northern Gaza. Smotrich, who also oversees settlement administration within the Defence Ministry, has repeatedly urged Israel to occupy the whole Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reported.

The idea has long been promoted by Israel’s settler movement. In January 2024, settler groups held a conference attended by government ministers to press for renewed Israeli settlements in Gaza.

All Israeli settlements on Palestinian land are illegal under international law. Al Jazeera reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right government has also pursued accelerated settlement expansion and annexation in the occupied West Bank, displacing Palestinian communities and tightening Israeli control over land there.

Former Israeli diplomat Alon Liel told Al Jazeera that the push reflects the ideology of the settler movement. He said its supporters want Palestinians removed from Gaza and want to settle the strip as Israel has settled parts of the West Bank.

Critics point to displacement policy

Issam Younis, director of the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, told Al Jazeera that Katz’s comments were consistent with what he described as Israel’s effort to make Gaza unlivable. Younis accused Israel of seeking to seize land, restrict food and water, block recovery and push Palestinians out before building settlements.

Israel announced in early 2025 that it was creating an agency to oversee what it called the “voluntary migration” of Palestinians from Gaza as part of a plan proposed by Katz. Al Jazeera reported that the move drew broad international criticism and that experts warned it could amount to a war crime.

Israeli media reported last month that the government had decided to rebrand the agency and replace the term “voluntary migration” with a “free movement plan,” using language considered more acceptable internationally. A 2025 poll commissioned by the University of Pennsylvania found that 82 percent of Jewish Israelis supported expelling Palestinians from Gaza, Al Jazeera reported.

Ceasefire conditions remain dire

Nine months into the ceasefire, Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,127 Palestinians, according to Al Jazeera. The United Nations says at least 265 children have been killed in that period, while hunger and severe medicine shortages continue across Gaza.

Younis said only 20 percent of Gaza’s needs related to water, health and basic life have been allowed in because of Israeli restrictions. He told Al Jazeera the territory is being deprived of food and water, and said the policy points toward expulsion even if Israel uses different language.

Liel said Israel is allowing only limited humanitarian relief to avoid angering US President Donald Trump, who has set up a Board of Peace to oversee Gaza’s administration and reconstruction. He told Al Jazeera he does not believe Israel wants Gaza rebuilt in the way Trump has described.

Israeli forces have also expanded the “Yellow Line,” the boundary marking Israeli-controlled areas inside Gaza, to cover 70 percent of the strip, Al Jazeera reported. Katz told Channel 14 that Israel would not withdraw from the line while Hamas remained armed and said Israel would stay inside Gaza even after that.

The renewed settlement talk comes before Israeli elections scheduled for October 27. Liel told Al Jazeera that Katz and other ministers appear to see calls for settlements in Gaza as politically useful amid a rightward shift among Israeli voters.

This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.