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Israeli actions in the occupied territories are escalating, with dire consequences for Palestinian civilians. Defense Minister Israel Katz has signaled a permanent occupation of Gaza and the potential expansion of settlements, while in the West Bank, settlers attacked a Palestinian home near Samu, gassing children and killing livestock, highlighting the ongoing impunity and humanitarian toll of settler violence. Here are two powerful reports from AntiWar.com both by Dave DeCamp.
Israeli Defense Minister Vows Permanent Israeli Occupation of Gaza, Establishment of Settlements
by Dave DeCamp for AntiWar.com
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed on Tuesday that the Israeli military will “never leave all of Gaza” and will eventually establish settlements in the northern part of the Strip.
“We are deep inside Gaza and will never leave all of Gaza – that will not happen. We are here to defend and to prevent what happened,” Katz said during an event in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
“With God’s help, when the time comes, also in northern Gaza, we will establish Nahal pioneer groups in place of the settlements that were evacuated,” Katz added, referring to an IDF program that establishes communities for Israeli soldiers. “We’ll do it in the right way, at the appropriate time.”
Katz also vowed that Israel would not withdraw “one millimeter” from Syria, referring to the territory it has captured in southwest Syria since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
After his remarks sparked backlash, Katz appeared to walk back the comments on settlements. “The government has no intention of establishing settlements in the Gaza Strip,” his office said in a statement, though it added that he made the comments in a “security context,” suggesting it wasn’t a complete walk back about what he said about establishing military communities.
An unnamed US official criticized Katz’s comments, saying that he was “provoking” the Arab world. “The more Israel provokes, the less the Arab countries want to work with them,” the US official said in a statement to journalists.
“The United States remains fully committed to President Trump’s 20-Point Peace Plan, which was agreed to by all parties and endorsed by the international community. The plan envisions a phased approach to security, governance, and reconstruction in Gaza. We expect all parties to adhere to the commitments they made under the 20-Point Plan,” the official added.
Katz did not walk back his comments about a permanent Israeli occupation of Gaza, and other Israeli officials have made similar vows. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said earlier this month that the so-called “yellow line,” the vague boundary separating the Israeli-occupied side of Gaza from the rest of the Strip, is a “new border.”
The IDF currently occupies more than 50% of Gaza, and Palestinians, for the most part, have been cleansed from the area, besides the Israeli-backed anti-Hamas militias and gangs and a small number of civilians living with them. If Israel’s occupation doesn’t end, Israeli settlers will continue to push for the establishment of settlements on the IDF side of the yellow line.
The Nachala movement, a group of settlers pushing for Jewish settlement in Gaza and the complete expulsion of the Palestinian population, welcomed Katz’s initial comments, saying it was a “step in the right direction toward returning Jewish settlement in Gaza.” Settlers with the Nachala movement recently entered Gaza and raised an Israeli flag.
Nachala has strong support among members of the Israeli government and the Knesset. Senior members of the Israeli government have been explicit in their desire for ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the establishment of Jewish settlements. A few days after the Gaza ceasefire deal was signed, which Israel has continued to violate by killing over 400 Palestinians, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich vowed there would be “Jewish settlements in Gaza.”
Israeli Settlers Spray Children With Tear Gas, Beat Sheep To Death in Attack on Palestinian Home
The same house was attacked last month, when settlers killed six lambs
by Dave DeCamp for AntiWar.com
Jewish settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank sprayed children with tear gas and beat several sheep to death as part of an overnight attack on a Palestinian home near the village of Samu in the Hebron Hills of the southern part of the territory.
According to The Associated Press, a Palestinian official said the settlers smashed a window and door of the home and sprayed gas inside, sending three children under the age of four to the hospital. The settlers also entered a building housing sheep, and footage shows them beating the animals. The attack killed three sheep and wounded four others.
Haaretz reported that Israeli police arrested five settlers and that they had ample evidence they were responsible for the attack, though settlers are rarely held for long or prosecuted for their attacks on Palestinians in the occupied territory. The same home was targeted last month when settlers brutally killed six lambs.
The area has seen an uptick in settler attacks since an illegal outpost was established around the time of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel and the start of Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza. The violence around Samu is part of an overall trend in the West Bank of increasing settler attacks as Jewish extremists are emboldened by the Israeli government, which continues to authorize the expansion of settlements.
The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Tuesday that more sheep belonging to a Palestinian resident were killed in an area to the east of Bethlehem as a result of settlers spraying toxic pesticides on the Palestinian’s land. A total of five sheep were killed as a result.
Settlers frequently target livestock and work to destroy olive groves in the West Bank as they seek to destroy the livelihood of local Palestinians, whose land they want. There was a record number of settler attacks against Palestinians in October, when the olive harvesting season started.
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