Every day, after her job as a childminder, Bracha, 18, comes to have
the small settlement of Eli Aza, located on the northern border of the Gaza Strip. With a handful of radical religious Zionists, and a few lost teenagers, she is waiting for the Israeli army to authorize her to enter the devastated Palestinian enclave. To settle there.
Our destiny is to live on all the land that was promised to us [par Dieu]. And then there will be no security in Israel until we take back Gaza
she said, repeating word for word the refrain of Israeli settler leaders since October 7, 2023.
A few kilometers to the south, 2.3 million Palestinians, 80% of whom are displaced, are facing a second winter of destitution. Every day, several dozen Gazans die and increase the toll (44,000 deaths) of fourteen months of a never-ending war.
Read also: INTERVIEW. “In Gaza, an absolutely unique war through the violence imposed on civilians”
Exclude Unrwa
For several weeks, Israeli generals have insisted, more and more openly, that Hamas is militarily defeated. That only negotiations are likely to bring back to Israel the 101 hostages (half of whom are believed to be dead) still held by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
But whoever talks about negotiations, talks about a ceasefire and the day after. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not want to broach the subject. The continuation of the war avoids accountability for the security failure and the massacres of October 7, 2023 (1,200 Israelis killed), about which Israelis are still awaiting answers. The war is also delaying the conclusion of the corruption trials against him.
To deceive, particularly vis-à-vis the United States, Netanyahu is showing his desire to resolve the problem of humanitarian aid, by subcontracting it to private companies, including for its health or security aspects. This would make it possible to exclude UNRWA, the UN agency dedicated to Palestinian refugees, and undesirable NGOs.
And then? What would become of Gaza? The Netanyahu government is sticking to its refusal to entrust management of the territory to the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas, which controls the major cities of the occupied West Bank. The prospect of prolonged occupation is looming. Moreover, for lack of clear orders, the army is acting in this direction.
Fortified corridors
A significant part of the very dense urban fabric has been razed. First, to provide a buffer zone one kilometer deep along the territory's 59 km border with Israel. Then, the army cut the Gaza Strip with three corridors
road and fortified, up to the Mediterranean: the first is along the border with Egypt; the other two to the north and south of Gaza City. The latter, called Netzarim, after the name of an ancient colony, has a corridor in name only. Four kilometers wide, it occupies 15% of the territory…
Championed by settlers and far-right government ministers, whispered behind the scenes but denied by Netanyahu, the post-war plan would see the creation of closed areas for Palestinians, cleared of all armed groups, under the control private security companies. Ideal conditions for recolonization. It is possible to conquer Gaza and reduce the population [palestinienne] by half [par une émigration]
launched Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on November 25, during a meeting of Yesha, the West Bank Settlement Council.
Read also: REPORTING. How the war in Gaza has further strengthened the influence of extremist settlers in Israel
The subject remains taboo, but the opposition, weakened, is struggling to propose an alternative. This makes the settlers' vision more and more powerful. In February, forty families were ready to move to Gaza in the minute
said Daniella Weiss, 79 years old. The historic matriarch of the settler movement claims 740 today. Defying army orders, she told reporters on Israeli Channel 13 that she had gone to Gaza to reconnoiter.
