Minister demands Gazans be ‘resettled’

Itamar Ben-Gvir, the security minister, has called for the voluntary transfer of all Gazan citizens to other countries ‘because that land belongs to us’

A far-right minister in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has demanded the resettlement of Gaza in a conference staged with a party-like atmosphere on the territory’s border.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, the security minister, led displays of singing and dancing a few kilometres from where a renewed bombing campaign in northern Gaza has left hundreds of Palestinians dead.

“We will encourage voluntary transfer of all Gazan citizens. We will offer them the opportunity to move to other countries because that land belongs to us,” he told protesters, as smoke rose in the background.

He added that it was “the most ethical” solution to the present conflict.

Mr Ben-Gvir, 48, lives in a West Bank settlement and is the leader of Jewish Power, a party in Mr Netanyahu’s government. He has called in the past for a synagogue to be built at the al-Aqsa mosque complex on Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said Britain was considering putting sanctions on Mr Ben-Gvir, along with Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister.

The demonstration, called the “preparing to resettle Gaza conference”, was also attended by Knesset members from Mr Netanyahu’s Likud party.

Daniella Weiss, 79, grandmother of the settler movement, told the crowds that Palestinians had lost their right to live in Gaza as a result of the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas.

“We came here with one clear purpose, to settle the entire Gaza Strip … every inch from north to south. We’re thousands of people and ready to move to Gaza at a moment’s notice,” she said.

Mr Netanyahu has said it was “not realistic” to resettle Gaza after Israelis withdrew from the occupied territory in 2005, but there is a debate in Israel about what happens next to the Strip.

A group of senior reservists in the Israeli army has suggested withdrawing food and water from northern Gaza to force Palestinians south.

Israel has denied it is enacting the plan, despite a reduction in humanitarian aid reaching the estimated 400,000 people trapped in the north of the territory, according to the UN.

The Israel Defence Forces said they had facilitated evacuation of “thousands” of civ­ilians; Israeli authorities said 114 trucks had entered Gaza on Sunday.

At least 29 people were killed in Jabalia, in northern Gaza, on Monday, according to Wafa, the Palestinian news agency.

It came after 87 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike at the weekend, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Israel said it was checking the reports but previous death tolls had been “exaggerated”.

Meanwhile, at least two ­people were killed in Damascus after an airstrike that Syrian authorities blamed on Israel.

THE TIMES