Poll: 40% of Israeli settlers near Gaza consider moving

As many as 40 per cent of Israeli settlers in settlements adjacent to the Gaza Strip, known colloquially as the Gaza envelope, do not feel safe and are considering leaving, a new poll has found.

Conducted by the Israeli parliament (Knesset) Research and Information Centre, the poll revealed that 42 per cent of the settlers in the Gaza envelope settlements live without bomb shelters, and that 24 per cent of them are considering leaving their homes.

The settlers organise demonstrations from time to time against what they describe as “the deterioration of the security situation” in Israeli areas adjacent to the enclave.

The Israeli settlements around the Gaza Strip are inhabited by 7,000 Jewish settlers who live in two communities. The northern settlement bloc has three settlements along the northern Gaza nominal border, and the southern bloc has eleven settlements.

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