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Gaza: The Yellow Line and the Resettlement Movement

Gaza is a strip of land on the Mediterranean, about 25 miles long, home to roughly two million Palestinians. Israel captured it from Egypt in 1967, built settlements there, and in 2005 pulled out every soldier and every settler. For almost twenty years Israeli leaders pointed to that withdrawal as proof that Israel does not want more land. Since October 2023 the direction has reversed. The army holds most of the Strip behind a ceasefire line called the Yellow Line, its chief of staff calls that line "a new border," the prime minister has ordered the army to hold 70 percent of the territory, and ministers and settler groups hold conferences on building new Jewish towns there.

Evidence rating: CONFIRMED that Israel holds most of Gaza behind a line its army chief calls a new border, and that ministers call for Jewish settlement there. STRONG that the resettlement movement has the backing of a large part of the governing coalition.

"For the next 50 years"​

On 7 October 2023, the day of the Hamas attack, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant set the frame: "We will change reality on the ground in Gaza for the next 50 years. What was before, will be no more" (FirstSquawk on X, 7 October 2023).

Within weeks, Israel's Intelligence Ministry wrote a paper titled "Options for a policy regarding Gaza's civilian population," which weighed moving Gaza's population out of the Strip. The prime minister's office called it a "concept paper" and a "hypothetical scenario" (Wikipedia summary of the paper; Sprinter Press on X). At the same time Israel's ambassador to Russia, Alexander Ben Zvi, was telling the public, "There are no plans to resettle."

The resettlement conferences​

In January 2024, a conference in Jerusalem on resettling Gaza drew, according to Israel's Channel 12 as summarized by Mideast Discourse, 12 ministers from Netanyahu's Likud party along with Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich (Mideast Discourse). The Israeli journalist Oren Ziv photographed the stage: "A big map shows the locations of the planned settlements, some on top of existing Palestinian towns" (Oren Ziv on X, 28 January 2024).

In October 2024, a second conference titled "Preparing to Settle Gaza" was held near the Gaza border. Finance Minister Smotrich said on his way in: "Without settlements, there is no security" (Times of Israel, 21 October 2024). The organizer, Daniella Weiss of the settlement movement Nachala, told the crowd: "We came here to settle the entire Gaza Strip, from north to south, not just part of it," and said six settler groups and 700 families were "ready right now." In a documentary filmed by Louis Theroux, Weiss said: "You will witness how Jews go to Gaza and Arabs disappeared from Gaza" (YouTube). In December 2025 she said: "Gaza belongs to the people of Israel. And we must begin settling in Gaza now" (as recorded in a chronicle by the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission). More on Weiss: Daniella Weiss.

What ministers said​

  • Orit Strook, minister of settlements: "full sovereignty over Gaza within 10 years" (as compiled by Masi on X, 12 February 2026).
  • Bezalel Smotrich, finance minister, described Gaza as a "real estate bonanza" (same compilation).
  • Itamar Ben Gvir, national security minister: "We cannot withdraw from the Gaza Strip. Not only do I not rule out Jewish settlement there, I believe it is also an important thing. The war presents an opportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza." In September 2026 he was again described as "talking about a plan to "encourage" Palestinians to leave Gaza and the West Bank" (Mario Nawfal on X, 5 September 2026). See Itamar Ben Gvir.
  • Justice Minister Yariv Levin: "We need to be in Gaza because this is our land, the land of Israel and the Jewish people, and only the Jewish people" (Masi compilation, above).
  • Benjamin Netanyahu, August 2025: "We are taking over the Gaza Strip" (Amit Segal on X, 4 August 2025).

The Yellow Line becomes "a new border"​

After the ceasefire of late 2025, the Israeli army stayed on its side of the ceasefire line inside Gaza, the line known as the Yellow Line. Touring the Strip in December 2025, the army's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, called the ceasefire line "a new border line" (Times of Israel, 7 December 2025).

The line then moved. By May 2026, one account put "60% of the enclave's territory" behind the Yellow Line, with 2.1 million people pressed into the rest (Lise Santolini on X, 3 May 2026, her figures). In July 2026 Netanyahu told the army: "My directive is to move to 70% control of the Gaza Strip... We're at 60% right now. Let's do this step by step, first 70%" (Jerusalem Post, 15 July 2026). A New York Times opinion essay in June 2026 reported that Defense Minister Israel Katz had suggested Gaza's population "should eventually be concentrated into a dystopian "humanitarian city," built on the ruins of Rafah," and that "Nobody would be allowed to leave the zone unless they emigrate" (New York Times, 8 June 2026). An Arab essayist summarized the result in May 2026: Gaza's population confined to "just 12%" of the Strip (Mazen Al-Najjar, as shared by Eliseeva on X, 14 May 2026).

Why this matters for the Greater Israel story​

The 2005 withdrawal was the strongest proof that Israel gives land back. That proof is gone. What replaced it follows the pattern seen in the Golan and southern Lebanon: a "temporary" military line, then a "new border," then a percentage target, then conferences on who will live there. The same ministers push all of it. For the other places the pattern is playing out, see The Golan Heights and 1,000 Square Kilometers Since October 2023.

Status: Yoav Gallant, Alexander Ben Zvi, Oren Ziv, Bezalel Smotrich, Daniella Weiss, Orit Strook, Itamar Ben Gvir, Yariv Levin, Benjamin Netanyahu, Eyal Zamir, Israel Katz, and Mazen Al-Najjar are alive. Nothing on this page states that any living person committed a crime.

Sources​

Research captures: twitter/t22__v255.md, twitter/t22__v262.md, twitter/t29__v337.md, twitter/t29__v340.md

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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