The plan states that \u201cIsrael will not occupy or annex Gaza\u201d and that once a planned International Stabilization Force is deployed to take responsibility for the enclave\u2019s security, IDF troops will recede \u201cuntil they are withdrawn completely from Gaza, save for a security perimeter presence that will remain until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n The US is pushing for those steps, which form part of the second stage of the ceasefire, to begin soon.<\/p>\n If Hamas doesn\u2019t disarm itself, \u201cwe\u2019ll do it,\u201d Katz said.<\/p>\n The defense minister also asserted that if Israel relinquishes control of the Philadelphi Corridor on the border between Gaza and Egypt for \u201ceven one day,\u201d Iran will succeed in sending all sorts of weapons into Gaza, referring to the Islamic Republic\u2019s support for terror groups in the enclave.<\/p>\n \t Katz rejected the assertion that he had \u201creversed\u201d his comments earlier this week calling for settlements inside Gaza, saying that \u201creverse is something I only do when driving.\u201d<\/p>\n He suggested that his \u201cvision\u201d for Gaza, to be carried out \u201cin due tim,\u201d includes the establishment of Nahal pioneer groups in the northern Gaza Strip \u2014 a reference to the military units that several decades ago established outposts that later evolved into full-fledged settlements.<\/p>\n Katz claimed that \u201cpeople sought to interpret my words as an announcement of the establishment\u201d of settlements inside Gaza, and that they were not intended that way.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Katz pledged that Israel would \u201cnever leave\u201d the Gaza Strip and would resettle the northern part of the enclave, in defiance of commitments made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump.<\/p>\n He later hastily walked back<\/a> his remarks.<\/p>\n A chorus of far-right voices in Netanyahu\u2019s coalition have called on Israel to rebuild settlements in Gaza in the wake of the war launched by Hamas. Israel evacuated all of its settlements in Gaza, and withdrew all of its troops, under the 2005 Disengagement Plan. Under the current ceasefire, it controls roughly half the enclave.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tTroops of the Nahal Brigade operate in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in a handout photo issued on November 26, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)<\/p>\n
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