EREZ, Israel
Israeli far-right groups on Wednesday marched to the Gaza border demanding the "establishment of illegal Jewish settlements" in the Gaza Strip, where 2.3 million Palestinians live, where the Israeli army continues its ground occupation.
A dozens-strong group of far-right settlers gathered in the city of Sderot, the closest point to the Gaza Strip.
The group formed a convoy with their vehicles and arrived near the Erez border crossing between Gaza and Israel.
The far-right group carried "orange ribbons," a symbol of the return to Gush Katif, the largest illegal Jewish settlement in Gaza, from which Israel withdrew in 2005.
'We should go to Gaza as soon as the war ends'
Israeli Mechi Fendel told Anadolu that 500 families had volunteered to settle in the north, center and south of Gaza.
Claiming that "the region will be safe when Jewish settlements and towns are established" inside Gaza, Fendel said: "We should go to Gaza as soon as the war is over."
"If we leave a gap, this place will turn into a hornet's hive of terror of Hamas again," he stated.
Regarding the warnings of the international community to Israel "not to re-establish illegal Jewish settlements in Gaza," he said: "We are a sovereign state. This (Gaza) is our land."
"I don't understand. This is similar to demanding that Germany give part of its territory to another structure. Why would the US give part of Texas to Mexico?"
'It is a delusion that Gaza is Palestinian land'
Upon being reminded that Gaza is not Israeli territory, Fendel argued that Israel took Gaza back in 1967.
"For hundreds of years, there were Jewish people in Gaza. There were synagogues here," he stressed.
"It is proven that the Palestinians have a 60-year history here. It's nonsense (that Gaza is Palestinian land), and I can't believe how this falsehood has spread," he criticized.
Fendel said that the government will also take steps in this direction if the Israeli people show what they want.
The far-right settler group then proceeded through the fields along the Gaza Strip border fence to reach the Erez Border Crossing, which was closed after Oct. 7.
Israeli soldiers stationed in the area refrained from intervening during the settlers' march.
Israeli Amiel Pozen also said: "We are here. This is ours. There is nothing political or international about this. No one has the right to say anything."
"This is ours, and we want to return to Gaza; we want to destroy all terrorism," he stressed.
Some settlers ran towards the buffer zone and reached the border security wall.
Settlers set up two barracks representing the Jewish settlement near the border wall.
At this time, about 10 Jewish settlers crossed the border into Gaza.
Israeli soldiers captured this group and brought them back to the border crossing point in a military vehicle.
The soldiers detained one person after a brawl.
Israel's illegal Jewish settlements in Gaza
With the start of the Israeli army's ground occupation in Gaza, the expression "Gush Katif" given to the settlements here began to be used frequently again in the national press and social media.
The Gush Katif area, stretching from the southern to the central parts of the Gaza Strip, consisted of 21 illegal Jewish settlements built in violation of international law.
In August 2005, when Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip, about 8,600 settlers living in settlements in the area were evacuated to other areas.
Right-wing and especially far-right politicians and activists are demanding that the government re-establish illegal Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.
Flouting the International Court of Justice's provisional ruling, Israel continues its onslaught on the Gaza Strip, where at least 30,228 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 71,377 injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.
The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel is accused of genocide by the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
Hostilities have continued unabated, however, and aid deliveries remain woefully insufficient to address the humanitarian catastrophe.
*Writing by Merve Berker
