Israeli soldiers help extremist settler into northern Gaza

Israeli soldiers bypassed their commanders to help an extremist settler leader to enter Gaza to survey sites for potential settlements, according to Israeli media reports on Friday.

On 13 November, Daniella Weiss, a leading advocate for the illegal resettling of devastated northern Gaza, reportedly toured the Israeli side of the Gaza border fence before crossing into the Strip.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, and as reported by The Times of Israel, Weiss and her fellow settler extremists made their way into Gaza through unclear means. Near central Gaza’s Netzarim Corridor, Weiss contacted soldiers she knew, who arranged for a jeep to transport her and fellow activists to the former site of Netzarim, a settlement dismantled during Israel’s 2005 Disengagement from Gaza.

Weiss and her group reportedly returned to the Gaza border via an unofficial route to avoid detection by security forces. The Israeli military were apparently unaware of her entry into the Strip, with army officials telling Kan that they were unable to find any record of entry approval.

“Weiss’s entrance into the Gaza Strip is unknown and was not approved in the proper avenues,” a military spokesperson told Kan.

Weiss, head of the extremist Nachala settlement movement, acknowledged entering Gaza, explaining that she employed the same strategy used in the West Bank—utilising the military’s presence to establish illegal settlements at the expense of indigenous Palestinian populations.

“How will we enter a military base?” Weiss said to Kan. “There are all sorts of creative ideas: So here you have a tent, and next to the tent, there is a structure, and next to that, there is a kitchen, and next to that, there are kids, and so it goes on.”

Weiss asserted that the settlers were prepared to move into Gaza at a moment’s notice.

“We’re no longer getting ready to go in,” she said,as reported by The Times of Israel. “The moment we can enter—we enter.”

She suggested that mass entry by settlers would make it difficult for the military to remove them. At an October conference, Weiss said that Nachala had organised six settlement groups totalling 700 families ready to establish new settlements in Gaza.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza by the International Criminal Court, has denied any plans to resettle Gaza. However, Israel has destroyed almost all of the northern part of the Palestinian territory, while ethnically cleansing much of the population and starving those who refuse to leave.

Weiss, sometimes referred to as the ‘Godmother of Settlers’, has been involved in the founding of settlements in the West Bank since 1967 and has repeatedly incited violence against Palestinians, leading to Canadian sanctions against her and other far-right settler figures in June.

Weiss’s unauthorised entry into Gaza highlights a growing trend of civilian settlers accessing areas that the Israeli military have violently invaded.

Most recently, Ze’ev Erlich, a renowned settler and historical ‘researcher’, was killed while accompanying a Israeli invasion force into southern Lebanon. This has aroused fears that Israel is covertly greasing the wheels for the illegal settlement of both Gaza and south Lebanon.

The call for Jewish settlement in Gaza has also been supported by figures within the Israeli government. Israel’s far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir has repeatedly called for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza and an expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied territory.