Hundreds of Israeli settlers, including families carrying national flags and walking with children, marched toward the Gaza Strip on Sunday demanding the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in the territory nearly two decades after Israel dismantled them during its 2005 unilateral withdrawal. The demonstration, organized by the Nachala Movement, unfolded alongside an intensified Israeli military campaign in Gaza, placing two of the conflict’s most contentious issues—the future of the enclave and its civilian population—at the center of the day’s developments.
The march was organized under the slogan “After 21 years, we are coming home,” invoking the removal of 21 Israeli settlements from Gaza and four in the West Bank as part of Israel’s disengagement plan in 2005. Promotional material distributed ahead of the event featured digitally created images depicting residential neighborhoods overlooking the Mediterranean, reflecting the movement’s stated ambition to rebuild permanent Jewish communities inside Gaza.
Organizers and participants argued that permanent Israeli settlement in the territory represents a security necessity. Their stated objective would require the displacement of at least part of Gaza’s Palestinian population, according to statements made by attendees during the event. The demonstration was led by the Nachala Movement, an organization that advocates expanding Jewish settlements and has been placed under European Union sanctions over what Brussels described as serious and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The march also carried clear political significance because of the anticipated participation of multiple members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Nachala announced that 28 ministers and lawmakers, together with wounded soldiers, combatants, and relatives of those killed in the conflict, were expected to take part. According to Israeli media reports, around one hundred participants, including Economy Minister Nir Barkat, entered a militarized zone near the Gaza border with limited resistance from Israeli forces and approached the security fence surrounding the enclave.
Some demonstrators expressed their intention to breach the border fence and enter Gaza itself. The possibility echoed a similar march organized by Nachala in December, when several participants crossed into the area briefly before Israeli troops escorted them back into Israel. Seeking to prevent a repeat, the Israeli military declared the area surrounding Gaza a closed military zone until Monday, restricting civilian access to the border.
Later in the day, Nachala announced that it had reached an agreement with the military under which marchers would not enter Gaza but instead conclude their demonstration at an observation point overlooking the territory. The arrangement reduced the likelihood of direct confrontation between protesters and Israeli security forces while allowing the march to proceed.
The demonstration took place against the backdrop of continued Israeli military operations inside Gaza. Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli strikes killed three people on Sunday after ten others, including three children, were killed on Saturday. Israeli authorities have said their campaign is focused on locating and eliminating individuals who participated in Hamas’ October 2023 attacks on Israel. According to Wafa, 1,444 Palestinians have been killed during the nine months of a fragile ceasefire period as Israel continues operations targeting suspected participants in those attacks.
The renewed debate over settlements has emerged despite longstanding international legal positions regarding Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories. International law recognizes Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem as a single territorial unit intended to form the basis of a future Palestinian state. In 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s continued presence in those territories was illegal and called on the international community to cooperate in bringing it to an end.
Nachala’s activities have drawn increasing international attention in recent months. On its website, the organization states that it recruits young Jewish couples willing to establish communities in what it refers to by the biblical names Judea and Samaria, corresponding to the occupied West Bank. It also declares an objective of increasing the Jewish population there to two million. More than half a million Israeli settlers currently live in the territory alongside roughly three million Palestinians. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem have characterized the system governing the territory as apartheid, a description rejected by Israeli authorities.
In May, the European Union imposed sanctions on Nachala and its director, Daniella Weiss, as part of broader measures targeting what it described as extremist Israeli settler groups involved in promoting illegal settlements in the West Bank. Weiss is also subject to sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom and Canada over allegations of violence against Palestinians. The European Union accused the organization of systematic human rights violations, including infringements on the physical and mental integrity of Palestinians living in the occupied territory.
The Gaza march comes at a politically significant moment for Israel, with elections approaching and members of Netanyahu’s governing coalition facing renewed scrutiny over settlement policy. Israeli newspapers reported that ministers from Netanyahu’s Likud party, along with prominent figures representing the settler movement, were expected to attend. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also holds extensive authority within the Defense Ministry, had previously announced plans to restore three communities in northern Gaza, extending policies he has championed in the West Bank. Israeli non-governmental organizations have identified him as a central figure in accelerating annexation-related measures there.
Among the highest-profile participants expected at the event was National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a leading figure within Israel’s far-right political camp. Ben Gvir has drawn international attention over several policies since the Hamas attacks in 2023, including directives to tighten prison conditions for Palestinian detainees and a proposal to establish a prison for Arab inmates secured in part by crocodiles. The concept, inspired by a detention facility in Florida surrounded by reptile-inhabited wetlands, has prompted objections from Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority, although the Environmental Protection Ministry has initiated measures allowing a pilot project involving crocodiles for prison security purposes.
Meanwhile, military operations inside Gaza have continued to intensify. Palestinian state media reported that Israeli strikes have killed 30 people since Thursday. According to The Times of Israel, Israeli authorities have used facial recognition technology to analyze footage from the October 2023 attacks and identify approximately 5,000 Palestinians believed to have entered Israel during the assault. Israeli officials say around 1,500 suspected participants have since been killed and another 300 detained, with authorities considering capital punishment in cases involving genocide charges.
The fighting has continued in increasingly confined areas of Gaza, where approximately two million Palestinians remain displaced, many living in tents. Under the terms of the existing ceasefire, Israel controls 53 percent of the territory pending Hamas’ disarmament, although continued military advances have reduced the area available to civilians. Recent strikes included the bombing of an apartment in Gaza City that killed two parents and their three children, while another attack on a funeral procession in the Nuseirat refugee camp killed eight people. The Israeli military said it had targeted a Hamas member in the Gaza City strike and stated that both incidents remain under investigation as military operations continue across the enclave.
