Israelis enter Gaza, raise flag, call for settlement’s restoration

Several Israelis entered the Gaza Strip on Thursday despite an army ban, raised the Israeli flag at a former settlement site and called for Israeli settlements to be restored in the war-damaged Palestinian territory.

Right-wing Israeli social media accounts shared a photo showing around 20 men, women and children gathered around an Israeli flag raised on an empty plot of land. They said the photo was taken in Kfar Darom.

Kfar Darom, a former kibbutz in central Gaza, was evacuated along with 20 other settlements during Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from the territory in 2005.

Since then, some groups on the Israeli right have repeatedly called for the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in Gaza. These calls grew stronger after the attack carried out by Hamas on Israel on 7 October 2023, which triggered the current war in the territory.

Following that attack, several Israeli officials also called for the removal of Palestinians from Gaza and for Israel to regain control of the territory.

On Thursday, the Israeli army said the people who entered Gaza were “returned to Israeli territory”. It added that “dozens” of others were prevented from crossing at another border point, although some managed to get through security barriers.

READ: Netanyahu approves law to put Hamas elite fighters on trial