Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday that Israel will never fully withdraw from the Gaza Strip and vowed to eventually establish new military-agricultural outposts in northern Gaza in place of the settlements evacuated as part of Israel's 2005 disengagement from the coastal enclave.
Speaking at a ceremony marking an agreement to relocate the IDF's Binyamin Brigade headquarters and construct 1,200 new housing units in the West Bank settlement of Beit El, Katz said, “We will do this the right way, at the right time. Some people protest, but we are the ones in charge.”
Katz’s remarks come amid growing speculation over Israel’s long-term plans for Gaza following the ceasefire with Hamas, and as U.S. President Donald Trump dismissed the possibility of Israeli annexation of the West Bank when asked about it in Washington.
Referring to that backdrop, Katz said, “This government is a government of settlement. It seeks engagement. If sovereignty is possible, we will apply it. We are now in a period of practical sovereignty, and at this moment, due to the positions and strength Israel has shown since the terrible tragedy of October 7, there are opportunities we haven’t had in a long time.”
Also speaking at the ceremony was Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who praised IDF Central Command head Maj. Gen. Avi Blot, currently facing criticism from far-right settler activists known as the Hilltop Youth. “He is the best Central Command chief the settlement enterprise has ever had,” Smotrich said, promising significant infrastructure upgrades: “Within a few years, there will be dual-lane roads throughout the Binyamin, Samaria and Jordan Valley regions.”
Smotrich also boasted of what he called a “full-blown spree” of settlement activity in the West Bank in recent years, and praised Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “We’ve received full backing from him for the spree we’ve been carrying out here over the past three years.”