1. Home
2. Middle East
3. Houthis Detain 10 More Yemeni UN Staffers

Several Israelis entered the Gaza Strip on Thursday in defiance of army orders and held a symbolic flag-raising ceremony to call for the reoccupation and resettlement of the Palestinian territory.

The army acknowledged the breach in a statement, saying the group had been under constant observation and reiterating that entry into the area is forbidden.

Right-wing social media accounts circulated a photo showing about 20 men, women, and children standing around an Israeli flag on an empty plot of land, saying it was taken at Kfar Darom.

The former kibbutz in central Gaza was evacuated—along with 20 other settlements and the Israeli military presence inside the territory—during Israel's unilateral disengagement in 2005.

Ever since the disengagement, a fringe movement on the Israeli right has continued to call for the re-establishment of the Gaza settlements.

That fringe became more vocal after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the ensuing war, and various right-wing Israeli politicians have called for the evacuation of Palestinians from the territory and for Israel to retake control.

The Israeli army said Thursday that those who had managed to enter Gaza were "returned to Israeli territory" by its troops, adding that it later prevented "dozens" of others from infiltrating at a different point on the border, though some managed to break through a security barrier.

The military said that "any entrance to a combat zone is forbidden, endangers civilians, and disturbs IDF (army) operations."

Daniella Weiss, a leading figure in the settler movement, hailed the protest action.

At a rally in the city of Sderot, on the border with Gaza, Weiss told about a hundred supporters that "with God's help, this flag-raising will mark the beginning of a new era—an era in which we return to Gaza."

"Not Indonesians, not Turks, not Egyptians, not any country—only the people of Israel will rule in Gaza," Weiss said, mentioning countries whose forces have been floated as possible members of a planned international stabilization force in the territory.

The settlers' protest action had been planned in advance.

Last week, the ultra-nationalist pro-settlement movement Nachala, co-founded by Weiss, announced plans for a Gaza flag raising in a letter, with far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, 10 other ministers, and more than 20 lawmakers also signing on.

AFP