Normalising genocide was a way to normalise colonial expansion in Gaza. Only three weeks after Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich revealed plans for three Israeli settlements, the Nachala settler group organised a march last Sunday, in which settlers and ministers, including Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Economy Minister Nir Barakat and other Likud politicians, marched to a closed military zone, bypassing the Israeli military’s roadblocks to reach the border with Gaza. The call was for rebuilding the former settlements of Elei Sinai, Dugit and Nisanit which were evacuated in 2005 under the Disengagement Plan by then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz is pushing for the establishment of three Nahal outposts in Gaza, which historically have proved to be the precursor to colonial expansion. 

Both Ben Gvir and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi advocated for Jewish settlement in Gaza. Ben Gvir reiterated the so-called voluntary emigration scheme to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza, while Karhi described........

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