A majority of Jewish Israelis support the re-establishment of Israeli civilian communities in the Gaza Strip, according to the “Peace Index” survey released by Tel Aviv University in January of this year.
Israeli security forces arrested six youths after dozens tried to breach the border with the Gaza Strip to conduct a Jewish prayer service there on Thursday morning.
The six who were detained were part of a group of some 40 people who tried to enter the Strip from the Erez Crossing with northern Gaza.
The attempt to enter the enclave came as resettlement activists marked 19 years since the military carried out Israel’s disengagement from the Gaza Strip, in which more than 8,000 Jews were forcibly removed from their homes.
“We were privileged to take part in an attempt to hold morning prayers inside the Gaza Strip, with the belief that Gaza is part of the Greater Land of Israel, and with the clear understanding that only settlement can be considered a victory,” one of the participants told Israel Hayom.
“Only a Jewish Gaza will remove the threats of missiles and hostage-taking from Gaza and bring security to the residents of the south and the entire country,” the anonymous Israeli worshipper continued.
“Before the war, [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar, may his name be erased, would take care of ‘Marches of Return’ and threaten residents of the ‘[Gaza] Envelope’ with [arson] balloons and mortar shells; this situation needs to be reversed. Jews who demand what is theirs: A return to Gaza,” he said.
Earlier this week, the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police declared the border area a closed military zone after hundreds of Zionist activists announced plans to mark Tisha B’Av, the Jewish national day of mourning, in the IDF-held Netzarim Corridor that divides the south and north of the Strip.
Monday’s prayer event, which reportedly attracted 300 people, was eventually held near Kibbutz Nahal Oz on the Israeli side of the border.
In August 2005, the Israeli government, headed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, unilaterally disengaged from Gaza, removing thousands of residents from their homes and transferring them to within the Green Line.
While the move was designed to bring calm to Israel’s southern border, it ushered in a victory for Hamas in January 2006 Palestinian Authority Legislative Council elections. In June 2006, the terrorist organization seized power in the Strip and evicted the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.
In September 2023, Arab terrorist organizations fired rockets towards the Mediterranean Sea as they marked 18 years since Israel’s defeat and the uprooting of Gaza’s 21 Jewish communities, as well as four in northern Samaria.
The Hamas-led Joint Operations Room, which includes a dozen terrorist groups that coordinate attacks on Israel, said the rocket fire was part of a military drill that also included guerrilla warfare simulations.
“The defeat of the occupation from Gaza establishes its defeat from [Judea and Samaria] and heralds the liberation of Jaffa, Haifa, Jerusalem and the rest of the country, Inshallah [God-willing],” said Muhammad Deif, the now-slain head of Hamas’s Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
During its Oct. 7 invasion of the northwestern Negev, Hamas murdered some 1,200 people, mostly Jewish civilians, and wounded thousands more. It also took around 250 civilians and soldiers back to Gaza as hostages.
Some 53% of Jewish Israelis support the re-establishment of Israeli civilian communities in the Gaza Strip, according to the “Peace Index” survey released by Tel Aviv University in January of this year.
Three months ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out the possibility.
“If you mean resettling Gaza, … it was never in the cards, and I said so openly. And some of my constituents are not happy about it, but that’s my position,” the Israeli leader said in a May 21 interview with CNN.
