Beit el: Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday declared that Tel Aviv will not completely withdraw from the Gaza Strip or occupied Syrian territories. This announcement was reported by the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper following Katz's press conference in the Beit El settlement near Ramallah in the central West Bank.
According to Anadolu Agency, Katz emphasized that Israel remains deeply embedded in Gaza and has no intention of vacating the area entirely. He announced plans to establish new military bases in northern Gaza, replacing the settlements evacuated after Israel's 2005 withdrawal. Katz highlighted that Nahal units, a military program involving young Israeli volunteers forming civilian communities, would be built instead of the displaced Israeli communities.
Katz's remarks concerning construction in northern Gaza present a potential challenge to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the US administration. Netanyahu is scheduled to visit the United States for discussions with President Donald Trump later this month. The Israeli government has not yet clarified Katz's statements, but settler leaders and opponents interpret them as an endorsement of settlement expansion. However, Katz's office issued a statement clarifying that there are no plans to establish settlements in Gaza, asserting that his comments about Nahal outposts were strictly in a security context.
Currently, approximately 750,000 illegal Israeli settlers reside in the West Bank, including 250,000 in East Jerusalem. These settlers frequently engage in attacks against Palestinians with the objective of forced displacement.
Regarding Israeli activities in Syria, Katz stated, "We will not move an inch from Syria," without elaborating further. Syrian government data indicates that since December 2024, Israel has conducted over 1,000 airstrikes and more than 400 cross-border raids in Syria's southern provinces. Following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in late 2024, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, contravening a 1974 agreement with Syria.