The IDF is planning to establish military manned settlements along the Gaza border in order to increase security there, Ynet has learned. Officials said that in order to bring a sense of security back to the area, there will have to be more than an armed military presence there.
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Israel had for years bolstered areas at risk, with Nahal brigade outposts, an arm of the military that deployed soldiers to build agricultural communities, many of which had later been transferred to civilian hands. in recent years the brigade had become a regular part of the IDF's infantry force.
According to sources, the IDF had for the past month, devised a program that would bolster communities near the border with Gaza, that includes three such settlements with 30 members of the military in each. The soldiers would combine security missions with agricultural work and take part in education and other social services in the area.
The location of the new communities would be determined according to the needs identified and are meant to provide the sense of security needed for residents of the border region, who were evacuated in the wake of the Hamas October 7 massacre, to return home. A similar plan was being devised for the northern border area, as revealed by Ynet's Nadav Eyal a few weeks ago.
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A home destroyed in the Hamas massacre at Kibbutz Kfar Aza on the border with Gaza
(Photo: Ofir Yonatan)
The IDF was actively working to identify the forces that would be deployed amid a shortage in troops expected, to fulfil the needs of the military under the current security situation faced by Israel.
In Gaza, the forces estimate they are nearing successfully eliminating Hamas's Khan Younis brigade after hundreds o f terrorists were killed and dozens more captured. They believe there is one battalion still operating there that must be squashed before the forces move on to operate in Rafah.