Could Israel really build settlements in Gaza?
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- Bezalel Smotrich told reporters his ministry has prepared plans for three settlements in northern Gaza and needs only Prime Minister Netanyahu's green light to move forward.
- Netanyahu came close to providing that approval on Channel 14, refusing to rule out settlements and saying cryptically: "The question is whether you prefer to do or to talk."
- Israel has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians in Gaza during the campaign and stands accused by UN-backed experts of deliberately imposing famine and targeting children, per the report.
- Northern Gaza has been largely razed by Israel's demolition campaign, and the territory previously held 21 Israeli settlements before the government dismantled them in 2005.
- Smotrich's Religious Zionist party is struggling in polls ahead of elections that must be held before the end of October and may fail to meet the threshold for parliament, which analysts cite as motivation for inflating settlement prospects.
- Netanyahu's political pressures include an ongoing corruption trial with potential jail time and anger over his refusal to hold an independent inquiry into his government's October 7 failings.
- International response to settlement expansion since 2023 has produced "very little action" — the largest expansion since the 1990s Oslo Accords — according to European Council on Foreign Relations fellow Hugh Lovatt.
Why it matters: Both Netanyahu and Smotrich face existential political pressure — Smotrich's party may fail to clear the electoral threshold, while Netanyahu navigates a corruption trial and October 7 inquiry anger — making the settlement signaling read by analysts as election positioning rather than imminent construction, though the international community's track record of 'very little action' against record West Bank expansion suggests Gaza settlements would face minimal consequence too.
