JERUSALEM: Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday (Dec 23) that the military would never fully withdraw from the Gaza Strip for security reasons and that a civilian-military army unit would be established in the Palestinian enclave.
According to a US-backed peace plan signed by both Israel and Hamas in October, the Israeli military will gradually withdraw completely from the coastal enclave and Israel will not re-establish civilian settlements in the coastal territory.
“We are located deep inside Gaza and we will never leave all of Gaza. There will never be such a thing. We are there to protect, to prevent what happened,” Katz said in a speech, referring to Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023, raid on Israel.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to comment.
Referring to units of the Israeli military, Katz said: “When the time comes, in northern Gaza … we will build Nahal units instead of the (Israeli) communities that were displaced. We will do so in the right way at the right time.”
“We don’t trust anybody else to protect our citizens,” he said, pointing to what he said was also a need to be in Lebanon and Syria.
Katz’s mention of displaced communities appeared to refer to Israel’s withdrawal of all Jewish settlements from Gaza in 2005.
Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled out the possibility of re-establishing settlements in Gaza throughout the two-year Gaza war, although some ultra-nationalist members of his coalition seek to reoccupy Gaza.
Source: CNA
