Smotrich announces establishment of three Jewish settlements in north Gaza

Ethnic cleansing genocidaire Bezalel Smotrich, says he is ready to immediately establish three Jewish settlements in northern Gaza. And, he has claimed he is only waiting for Netanyahu to approve his plans. At the same time, Israeli occupation officials are coordinating “voluntary migration” or “Free Movement” campaigns for Palestinians in the Strip.

Gaza occupation

Smotrich is the occupation’s finance minister and head of the Defense Ministry’s Settlement Administration. He is also an illegal settler and leader of the Religious Zionism Party. Last year he announced plans to annex 82 percent of the occupied West Bank.

He has now announced  he has “completed plans” for three settlements in the north of the Gaza Strip. All he is waiting for, he says, is for Netanyahu to green light these plans. Then he is ready to “immediately” establish these settlements.

While on a visit to the town of Sderot, less than a kilometre away from the Gaza border, Smotrich talked about “conquering Gaza”:

We need to complete the conquest of the remaining area, defeat Hamas, and establish a belt of Jewish settlements that will serve as a security buffer for Sderot and the Gaza border communities……Where there is no settlement, there is no security. We are not going back to the reality of before October 7.

According to Haaretz, Smotrich is thought to be referring to the settlements of Elei Sinai, Dugit and Nisanit, in Northern Gaza. These were evacuated in 2005 as part of the occupation’s disengagement from the Strip. Between August and September 2005, “Israel” evacuated its armed forces and about 8500 illegal Jewish settlers from Gaza. And it also dismantled 21 illegal settlements in Gaza, and another 500 from four settlements in the Northern West Bank.

But although the Zionist regime withdrew its illegal settlers from Gaza, it still retains complete control over Gaza’s land borders, airspace, and territorial waters. Under this blockade and ongoing military operations, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continue to have exclusive control over all entry and exit of goods and people. They also enforce restricted maritime zones, and control the Strip’s airspace and buffer zones. ‘Israel’ remains the occupying power in Gaza, as in the rest of Palestine.

War crimes central to Zionist settler colonialism

Speaking at a real estate conference in Tel Aviv, in 2025, Smotrich said about Gaza:

The demolition phase is always the first phase of urban renewal. We did that, now we need to start building.

Smotrich has advocated for the recolonisation of Gaza, and the expansion of settlements. He has also called for the annexation of 82 percent of the West Bank, among other things.

Displacement, forcible transfer, and expulsion of Palestinians are deliberate, and are central to the Zionist settler-colonial project. Even before this genocide, the occupation has launched a strategy of repeated violence in Gaza, to make the territory uninhabitable.

Between 2008 and 2022 ‘Israel’ launched five extremely destructive military operations in Gaza. Thousands were killed, 100,000 internally displaced, homes demolished, vital infrastructure destroyed, and healthcare decimated. This is in addition to the ongoing blockade on the Strip. Now, with the genocide, the scale of death and displacement is like never before, and Palestinians are supposedly going to “voluntarily” migrate.

On the same day that Smotrich delivered his speech in Sderot, 29 June, Israeli occupation politician Gila Gamliel was interviewed on the Israeli occupation’s Channel 7 about the “voluntary migration” from Gaza plan, among other things.  She was the first to present the plan to the Knesset.

Israeli politician says Mossad to be involved with Gaza’s so called “voluntary migration”

Gamliel told Channel 7 Israeli spy agency Mossad was getting involved:

Mossad is now getting involved in the inner workings, to come and manage this campaign in the best possible way. And it is underway.

It is Roman Gofman, head of Mossad, who has been eyeing up regime change in Iran, and was part of the “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” (GHF), accused of “orchestrated killing” by Doctors Without Borders.

Gamliel also claimed a survey had recently been conducted inside Gaza, asking residents their stance regarding leaving the Strip.

She said:

Out of 5000, 4000 want to leave. I believe the other 1000 didn’t really understand the question. There is no doubt they would all want to leave. …After the voluntary migration has taken place, the sky is the limit.

Human rights organisations have warned that the occupation’s “voluntary emigration” policy constitutes forcible transfer. This is a war crime and crime against humanity.

Voluntary migration now called “Free Movement Plan” to sound more appealing to those abroad

Following growing international backlash, the occupation has decided to replace the term “voluntary migration” with “Free Movement Plan”.

Israeli political and security officials replaced the term “voluntary migration” with “Free Movement Plan” when referring to plans to relocate Palestinians from Gaza, according to local media, amid international concerns over forced displacementhttps://t.co/vtvnAzBR2O

— TRT World (@trtworld) June 29, 2026

The idea is :

to reintroduce the initiative using language deemed more acceptable internationally.

But regardless of the name, ‘Israel’ will be committing exactly the same war crime.

As of 30 June 2026, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 73,066 Palestinians have been murdered by “Israel” in Gaza, and 173,514 injured, since 7 October 2023. Since the so called “ceasefire” on 11 October 2025, the occupation has killed 1053 Palestinians, and injured 3406. 786 bodies have been recovered.

Featured image via the Canary