Settlers from the Nachala organisation gathered near Israel\u2019s<\/a> border with Gaza on Thursday for an event titled “Raising the Flag in Gaza”.<\/p>\n As the name suggests, their aim is to establish Jewish settlements in the besieged territory, which has been razed to the ground by the Israeli army in over two years of bombing.<\/p>\n The event took place at the Sderot lookout point, a site overlooking the Gaza Strip from the southern Israeli city of Sderot.<\/p>\n The road leading to the lookout has become a popular tourist destination<\/a> for Israelis wishing to watch in real time the destruction wrought by the Israeli army in Gaza.<\/p>\n When climbing to the lookout and looking toward northern Gaza, no houses can be seen on the horizon, only the sunset on another cold evening.<\/p>\n Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n Everything has been systematically flattened by the Israeli army during the ongoing genocide in Gaza.<\/p>\n The several hundred people gathered for the event are mostly religious.<\/p>\n Organisers from Nachala distributed sufganiyah, the traditional Hanukkah pastry, while supporters poured in on buses from settlements in the occupied West Bank and from inside Israel.<\/p>\n The exception was a few left-wing activists from the Standing Together movement, who stormed<\/a> the stage wearing shirts reading “We are not returning to Gaza” – a break in the uniformity of the scene, which did little to dampen the overall mood.<\/p>\n When the event began, one organiser said that the \u201csacrifice\u201d of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza would not be in vain.<\/p>\n “Gaza is part of our ancestral inheritance, and we have returned to it in order to stay there forever.<\/p>\n “Gaza will be settled by Jews. Gaza is ours,” the organiser added.<\/p>\n Arnon Segal, a settler from occupied East Jerusalem, arrived in Sderot with his children “because we appreciate the sense of direction coming from here, that Gaza needs to be Jewish”.<\/p>\n Segal told Middle East Eye that the beginning of Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank 50 years ago “seemed like a delusional dream”, adding that “we were already in Gaza, it\u2019s a matter of decision”.<\/p>\n “The future belongs to the dreamers,\u201d Segal said, expressing his hope that Jewish settlement would be re-established soon.<\/p>\n He was optimistic, he said, because today \u201cthere is enough devoted youth” that can settle Gaza.<\/p>\n “Eventually the right political echelon will come along and say yes to this demand.<\/p>\n “In the end, those who are willing to sacrifice are the ones who determine the reality on the ground.”<\/p>\n Property developers are already looking at plans to redevelop Gaza. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n The organisers wanted to breach <\/a>the border into Gaza and raise a flag at the site where the settlement of Nisanit once stood, north of Gaza City, but were unable to do so after approval from Defence Minister Israel Katz was not granted.<\/p>\n Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Katz faced pressure to approve the flag-raising in Nisanit even from within their own Likud party.<\/p>\n In a letter addressed<\/a> to the defence minister and signed by senior Likud ministers, it was stated that other nations are trying to take “control over the Gaza Strip”.<\/p>\n “The time has come to say proudly: Gaza is part of the Land of Israel, [and it] belongs exclusively to the people of Israel.”<\/p>\n This week, the Likud sent out an invitation to the settler event in Sderot, signed by ministers and Knesset members from the party.<\/p>\n Sent during the Hanukkah holiday, the invitation read<\/a>:\u00a0\u201cWe will raise the Israeli flag together and declare \u2013 we will not abandon our security to others \u2013 Gaza is ours forever!\u201d<\/p>\n Despite this backing, only one Likud MP was in attendance in Sderot, Osher Shekalim.<\/p>\n Besides Shekalim, MP Limor Son Har-Melech from the Otzma Yehudit party and Settlement Minister Orit Strook from the Religious Zionism party also attended.<\/p>\n For some of those present, the event was meant to send a message to the Israeli government and the public.<\/p>\n Yehoshua Sokol, a settler from Karnei Shomron in the occupied West Bank, told MEE that he came because “Gaza is our ancestral inheritance and we need to be there.”<\/p>\n Sokol, who arrived wearing a shirt calling for settlement in Lebanon, said that “Lebanon is also our ancestral inheritance,” adding that “up to the Litani River is Israeli territory”.<\/p>\n “We want to send a message to the Israeli government and even more so to the Israeli people, that Gaza is our ancestral inheritance. This is not a security issue.”<\/p>\n “Too many people in the Israeli public have become accustomed to the idea that there are international agreements,” Sokol said, adding that “an international border is not sacred. Every international border lasts until the next war.”<\/p>\n Although no incursion into Gaza took place from Sderot, dozens of settlers breached the fence and entered Gaza at two points along the border, raising flags, according to a report in Haaretz<\/a>.<\/p>\n None of those who stormed the enclave in central and southern Gaza were arrested by the army, according to the report.<\/p>\n Footage of the flag-raising was published<\/a> on social media.<\/p>\n “Everyone who is here is compromising, because everyone here wants to be inside Gaza, raising a flag and building a home,” declared Daniella Weiss, head of Nachala.<\/p>\n “Today we were privileged to raise the Israeli flag in several places. Not only soldiers, but also civilians, women and children.”<\/p>\n Weiss said that raising the Israeli flag in Gaza was “an expression of the desire to be independent and not accept dictates from the nations of the world”.<\/p>\n She continued with criticism of international intervention in Gaza following the agreement between Israel and Hamas brokered by the US<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Gaza is not Trump\u2019s Riviera, it is not America\u2019s Riviera, it is the Riviera of the people of Israel.”<\/p>\n Now, Israel is facing a new era, according to Weiss.<\/p>\n “An era in which we will return to Gaza. Not Indonesians, not Turks, not Egyptians, no other country, only the people of Israel will rule Gaza.”<\/p>\n Weiss\u2019s criticism comes amid growing unease on the Israeli right over the agreement between Israel and Hamas, which has raised fears in Israel of direct Turkish and Qatari influence in Gaza.<\/p>\n Similar criticism was voiced by Sokol, who told MEE that US President Donald Trump is “a smart man,” but that “all decisions must be ours”.<\/p>\n “The nations of the world,” said a Nachala activist on the loudspeaker, “are demanding that we leave the part we conquered in the Gaza Strip within a month or two.<\/p>\n “Under no circumstances must this be allowed to happen,” he said, adding, “We need to settle there now.”<\/p>\n The Israeli government must cause the migration of Gaza\u2019s residents, he said, adding that “unfortunately the government is currently unable to stand up to international pressure and allow us to do this.”<\/p>\n Also on the agenda was the fate of Palestinian<\/a> residents of Gaza who face the ongoing threat of ethnic cleansing to make way for Israeli settlements.<\/p>\n “Look, this will happen,” said MP Son Har-Melech. “We will return and settle Gaza.”<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Gaza-evacuation.png\")
<\/a>\u2018Gaza must be Jewish\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\u2018Ancestral inheritance\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GAZA-2030-Real-Estate-Ad_large.jpg\")
<\/a>Storming Gaza\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Expelling Palestinians from Gaza<\/strong><\/h2>\n