Israeli Defense Minister Renews Threats That Tel Aviv Will Never Leave Gaza Strip

Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz renewed his threats on Thursday that Tel Aviv "will never leave" the Gaza Strip and will establish a security buffer zone and settlements in its north.

He said in an educational conference: "Israel will never leave the Gaza Strip," according to the Hebrew newspaper "Haaretz," and added: "There will be a wide security zone surrounding the Gaza Strip."

Katz had previously made a similar statement about settlement on Tuesday, which Israeli media said angered US President Donald Trump's administration, forcing him to retract it.

With American support, Israel began a genocide war in Gaza on October 8, 2023, which lasted two years and left about 71,000 Palestinian dead and more than 171,000 injured, most of them children and women.

Based on a plan proposed by Trump, a ceasefire between the "Hamas" movement and Israel began on October 10 last year, which the latter violates daily, leading to the killing of 406 Palestinians until Tuesday.

Katz continued: "In the northern part (of the Gaza Strip), it will be possible, in my opinion, to establish Nahal nucleus centers in an organized manner when the time comes."

And "Nahal nucleus" is a program supervised by the "Nahal Brigade" affiliated with the Israeli army, which establishes youth settlement gatherings that combine community service and military service, according to Hebrew media.

Katz rejected rumors of his retraction from Tuesday's statements, and said that "there will be (in Gaza) sovereignty by fait accompli, as is the case in the West Bank."

Since the genocide in Gaza began, Israel has intensified its crimes to annex the West Bank to it, especially through demolishing Palestinian homes, displacing them, and expanding settlement, according to Palestinian authorities.

Annexing the West Bank to Israel would end the possibility of implementing the principle of two states (Palestinian and Israeli), as stipulated in resolutions issued by the United Nations.

About 750,000 Israeli settlers live in hundreds of settlements in the occupied West Bank, including 250,000 in East Jerusalem, and they commit daily assaults against Palestinian citizens with the aim of forcibly displacing them.

Katz added: "My vision since the beginning of the war is that in northern Gaza (there will be) a model for Nahal military sites (..) and there could be a Jewish religious school and other things."

Regarding the fate of the occupied West Bank, the Israeli Defense Minister said: "We are implementing a policy of practical sovereignty (annexation) there."

He continued: "It is impossible now, given the current circumstances, to declare sovereignty. Practical sovereignty means (displacing) Palestinians (..) and deploying Israeli army forces, and establishing settlements."

For decades, Palestinian authorities have demanded that the international community pressure Israel to end settlement in the occupied territories, which the United Nations considers "illegal."

On Tuesday, Katz told settlement leaders that "Nahal nucleus" gatherings would be established in northern Gaza in place of the settlements evacuated in 2005.

These statements contradict Trump's plan, which stipulates the complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip.

Israeli media reported that the United States informed Benjamin Netanyahu's government of its surprise and anger at Katz's Tuesday statement.

At Netanyahu's request, Katz stated that the government does not seek to establish settlements in Gaza, which was considered a retraction before he insisted on his position on Thursday.

There is fear in Israel, according to Hebrew media reports, that Katz's statements may negatively affect Netanyahu's upcoming visit to Florida, where he meets Trump on December 29.

Expected to be on the agenda of the meeting are important files, foremost among them the Gaza Strip, Iran, Lebanon, and Syria.

For decades, Israel has occupied Palestine and lands in Syria and Lebanon, and refuses to withdraw from them and establish an independent Palestinian state, with its capital in East Jerusalem, on the borders before the 1967 war.