The Israeli defense and finance ministers have announced plans to build three illegal settlements in Gaza, as well as allocating more than $400 million (about 349,7 million euros) to expand construction in the occupied West Bank, the British newspaper The Guardian reports today.
With parliamentary elections scheduled for October 27, the far-right coalition of current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to rapidly expand control over land in the occupied Palestinian territories and expel Palestinians before his term ends, the Guardian reports in an article on its website.
Defense Minister Israel Katz has said he intends to establish three "Nahal" outposts in northern Gaza - the kind of military communities that have paved the way for Israeli civilian settlements for decades.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced the allocation of 1,3 billion shekels (about 347 million euros) for dozens of new Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The cabinet approved the money last month, but kept the decision secret due to expected opposition from the United States (US), Israeli media reported.
Major General Avi Blut, commander of Israeli forces in the West Bank, told residents of extremist outposts that he "appreciates their work" and considers them security partners of the military.
Blut, who himself grew up in a West Bank settlement, spoke Wednesday at a meeting of the Farms Association, which represents settlements that are illegal even under Israeli law.
These settlements play a key role in campaigns of terror that have driven Palestinians from their homes and lands across the occupied West Bank.
Dozens of members of Israel's political and military elite, including two former prime ministers and former heads of all security services, have threatened to take legal action against their government for supporting Jewish terrorism in the West Bank, according to the Guardian.
"Settler violence is state violence," the United Nations Human Rights Office in Palestine said in a new report released this week, detailing how Israel is using settlers to spearhead annexation efforts, while systematic impunity for perpetrators allows the violence to spread unchecked.
Hagit Ofran of the Israeli activist group "Peace Now" said bulldozers were working on at least seven settlements that were supposed to be populated before election day.
"The government has embarked on a reckless election campaign to loot the public purse in order to create facts on the ground," Ofran said.
Katz outlined plans for the settlement of Gaza during a visit to parts of the territory under Israeli control. He also advocated the ethnic cleansing of Gaza through the mass exodus of Palestinians.
"I intend to establish three Nahal outposts, which are also military facilities, in places where Israeli settlements were located in northern Gaza," he told Channel 14 television.
The Nahal outposts were not intended for long-term military use, said Dror Etkes, founder of the Kerem Navot organization, which monitors Israeli land grabs in the occupied West Bank.
"The military is only the first phase, aimed at preparing the ground for future settlement. In total, dozens of Israeli settlements have been established in the West Bank in this way," he said.
Nahal settlements were first established in border areas during the 1950s, including the area around the Gaza Strip, Etkes said.
Since 1967, the same system has been used in the occupied West Bank, first along the Jordan Valley, and then expanded to other areas.
Smotrich also said last month that plans for three settlements in Gaza had been completed and that work could begin as soon as Netanyahu gave the green light. The prime minister's office did not respond to requests for comment on Katz's plans.
Kac also told Channel 14 that he "felt good" when he saw the devastation of rubble that replaced Palestinian homes and communities in much of Israeli-occupied Gaza.
Israel now controls 65 percent of Gaza, Israeli Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Tamir Yaday told Katz during a briefing on camera. That is significantly more than the 53 percent agreed upon in a ceasefire agreement brokered last year by U.S. President Donald Trump.
About two million Palestinians who survived Israel's war of extermination are crammed into the remaining third of Gaza's territory.
"I don't know how else to describe this other than as a victory, when you control 65 percent of the territory and when you have killed more than 70.000 terrorists here," Jadaj said.
According to his data, the 21.000 Palestinian children killed in Israeli attacks, including more than 1.000 babies who did not live to see their first birthday, appear to be classified as "terrorists".
The Israeli military has admitted that a database of deaths in the Gaza war, compiled by Palestinian health authorities, is largely accurate. It lists more than 73.000 people by name, along with their Israeli-issued identification numbers.
Among them were more than 21.000 children, more than 10.000 women under the age of 60 and more than 5.000 elderly people. When asked whether Yaday's figures counted women, children and the elderly as "terrorists", the Israeli military refused to answer directly, according to the Guardian.
The spokesman said the military was still assessing the number of casualties in Gaza and that, despite Yaday's statements to Katz, it had not informed civilian officials about the matter.
"The Israel Defense Forces are currently conducting an expert assessment of the structure and categorization of the casualties. The process has not yet been completed nor presented to the political leadership," the spokesman said.
The spokesman declined to comment on Bluth's support for militant settlers and said that settlement decisions are a political matter.
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