Extremist Israeli settler groups are intensifying calls to establish new Jewish settlements in Gaza and permanently remove Palestinians from the enclave, as support for the controversial movement grows within sections of Israeli society and politics.
Hundreds of nationalist demonstrators recently marched toward the Gaza border carrying Israeli flags and calling for Jewish resettlement across the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.
The march, organized by the hard-line settler movement Nachala, highlighted how ideas once considered politically fringe are increasingly gaining mainstream attention following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.
Speaking near the Gaza border, Nachala founder Daniella Weiss openly declared the group’s intention to establish Jewish communities inside Gaza.
“We are here on the way to new Jewish communities in Gaza,” Weiss said during the demonstration.
She compared the vision for Gaza to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, where Jewish outposts and settler expansion have accelerated in recent years.
The Gaza Strip has suffered devastating destruction during the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Large parts of northern Gaza have been reduced to rubble following extensive Israeli military operations.
According to United Nations estimates, around 90% of Gaza’s population has been displaced since the war began. Gaza health authorities say tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed during the conflict and subsequent military operations.
Weiss said Palestinians would no longer remain in Gaza under the movement’s vision for the territory.
Her comments have sparked outrage among Palestinian leaders and international observers, many of whom accuse extremist settler groups of advocating ethnic cleansing and permanent displacement of Palestinians.
Prominent Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti condemned the movement, accusing the Israeli far right of seeking “complete control and elimination of the Palestinian presence.”
Although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly said he does not support resettling Gaza, members of his right-wing coalition government have openly backed the idea.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently told supporters that Gaza should become “entirely Jewish” through Israeli settlement expansion.
International criticism against extremist settler movements has also intensified.
The United Kingdom sanctioned Daniella Weiss and the Nachala movement in 2025, accusing them of promoting violence, illegal settlements, and the forced displacement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Canada has also imposed sanctions against Weiss, while the United States previously sanctioned several extremist Israeli settlers during the administration of former President Joe Biden.
The renewed push for settlements in Gaza comes more than two decades after Israel removed between 8,000 and 9,000 settlers from the territory in 2005 under then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
At the time, the withdrawal deeply divided Israeli society, but recent polling suggests support for hard-line positions on Gaza may be growing among Israeli Jews.
Several surveys published in 2025 indicated significant support among Israeli Jewish respondents for occupying Gaza and forcibly displacing Palestinians from the enclave.
The developments are likely to deepen international concern over the future of Gaza, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the possibility of a two-state solution as tensions continue to escalate across the Middle East.
