"We will never leave Gaza".. Katz announces the start of the "practical sovereignty" phase and approves a plan to build "settlement nuclei" in the north

Katz described the current government as a "settlement government" par excellence.

Israeli occupation war minister Yisrael Katz announced on Tuesday, December 23, 2025, strict government directives to proceed with expanding the settlement area to include both the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, decisively dispelling doubts about the "Israeli" future intentions by affirming that Israel "will never leave the Gaza Strip".

Settlement in northern Gaza

Hebrew media quoted Katz as saying, during his participation in the inauguration ceremony of a new settlement project, that the current government actually plans to establish what it calls "settlement nuclei" in areas of northern Gaza Strip, noting that this will be done "at the appropriate time and in the appropriate way".

In the context of media coverage of these statements, Hebrew Channel 14 reported that Katz emphasized in his speech the serious work to establish permanent settlement sites in the northern sector.

Meanwhile, the Hebrew Broadcasting Corporation quoted Katz as decisively affirming that the military and civilian presence in the Gaza Strip is a "strategic decision with no turning back," repeating his explicit phrase: "We will never leave the Gaza Strip".

1200 units in "Beit El"

On the West Bank front, while present in the "Beit El" settlement established north of Ramallah city, Katz revealed the approval of building 1,200 new settlement housing units in the aforementioned settlement.

Katz described the current government as a "settlement government" par excellence, expressing its political orientations by saying: "If sovereignty can be imposed on the West Bank, it will be imposed."

The "practical sovereignty" phase

In his analysis of the current political and security reality, Katz added that Tel Aviv is now, in his words, going through the "practical sovereignty" phase, noting that the rapid developments following the October 7 attack have created, in his view, "opportunities that have not been available for a long time," clearly referring to the government's determination to exploit the security situation to strengthen the settlement project and impose new facts on the ground that change the shape of the conflict.