On the border with Gaza, a generation of Israelis is camped out, waiting to settle the besieged Strip. They have funding from hard-line groups and backing from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
These Israelis have never lived in Gaza and they didn’t grow up there, but they see divine order in their plan to settle a land promised to Israel by God.
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However, Donald Trump’s peace plan states that Gaza will be run by Palestinian technocrats, overseen by a Board of Peace. That it will be Gaza for the Palestinians.
Since Hamas’s 7th October and Israel’s war on Gaza began, almost 2,000 Israelis and over 68,500 Palestinians have been killed. Most of the Strip lies in ruins.
In July, the Israeli human rights group B’tselem released a report accusing the Israeli government of genocide. It also warned that its actions could spread genocide to other areas under the state’s control.
Despite all of this, there are those who plan to make their homes on the ruins of Gaza.
The Observer headed to southern Israel to understand what these people really want for the future of Gaza, and what this might mean for the Palestinians living there.
For more on this story, listen to the Slow Newscast episode, Among the settlers on Gaza’s border, here.