Netanyahu’s government trying to bribe Israelis to return to Gaza envelope: Settlement official

The head of the occupied southern settlement council revealed on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is trying to bribe settlers with financial incentives to encourage them to return to the settlements in the Gaza envelope.

According to the Hebrew newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, Tamer Eidam, head of the Sdot Negev regional council (which includes 16 settlements in the north-western Negev desert), accused the Occupation government of attempting to bribe the residents in exchange for returning to the Gaza envelope settlements, which are still being targeted by rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

Eidam added that the Netanyahu government is trying to bribe the residents to return to their homes without removing the security threat, without providing a major security response to the towns in the area and without a system of education capable of accommodating the returnees.

He emphasised that the Israeli government is returning the residents to the situation that existed on 6 October (before the start of aggression), and abandoning their personal security.

Earlier on Monday, the official Israeli broadcast stated that the Occupation army is preparing to return the residents of six settlements in the Gaza envelope to their homes that were evacuated at the beginning of the war, clarifying that five of these settlements are located four-seven km from the Strip, and one is less than four km away.

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