Israel pledges no full withdrawal from Gaza or Syrian territories
“We are located deep inside Gaza and we will never leave all of Gaza,” Katz said during a press conference at the Beit El settlement near Ramallah in the West Bank. He also announced plans to establish new military bases in northern Gaza, in place of the settlements evacuated after Israel’s 2005 pullout.
“When the time comes, in northern Gaza ... we will build Nahal units instead of the (Israeli) communities that were displaced,” Katz added, praising the current Israeli cabinet as a “settlement” government. Nahal units are part of a military program in which young Israelis volunteer together before forming civilian communities.
Katz’s comments have raised concerns in both Jerusalem and Washington, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet US President Donald Trump later this month. While some interpreted Katz’s remarks as advocating for new settlements, his office clarified that the government does not intend to establish civilian settlements in Gaza and that references to Nahal outposts are strictly “in a security context.”
Approximately 750,000 Israeli settlers currently live in hundreds of West Bank settlements, including 250,000 in East Jerusalem. Many of these settlers carry out daily attacks against Palestinians with the intent of displacing them.
On Syria, Katz stated, “We will not move an inch from Syria,” without providing further specifics.
Syrian government data indicates that since December 2024, Israel has conducted over 1,000 airstrikes and more than 400 cross-border raids into southern Syria. Following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in late 2024, Israel expanded its control of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, violating a 1974 agreement with Syria.
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