Second Israeli minister calls for return of settlers to Gaza

An Israeli minister on Monday calledfor the return of Jewish settlers to Gaza and said Palestinians should beencouraged to emigrate, a day after similar remarks by another far-rightpolitician.
"We must promote a solution to encourage the emigration of Gaza'sresidents," Israel's firebrand National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir saidas war with the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers rages on.
Israel unilaterally withdrew the last of its troops and settlers in 2005,ending a presence inside Gaza that began in 1967 but maintaining near completecontrol over the territory's borders, reports BSS.
The government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not officiallysuggested it has any plans to evict Gazans or to send Jewish settlers back tothe territory since the current war broke out on October 7.
But Ben Gvir argued that the departure of Palestinians and re-establishmentof Israeli settlements "is a correct, just, moral and humane solution".
"This is an opportunity to develop a project to encourage Gaza's residentsto emigrate to countries around the world," he told a meeting of hisultranationalist Otzma Yehudit, or "Jewish Power", party.
Hamas dismissed Ben Gvir's proposal as a "daydream".
"You will not find a way to implement it in the face of our resilient,steadfast Palestinian people and their heroic resistance," the Islamist groupsaid in a statement.
Ben Gvir's comment came the day after far-right Finance Minister BezalelSmotrich also called for the return of settlers to Gaza, equally saying Israelshould "encourage" the territory's approximately 2.4 million Palestinians toleave.
Smotrich said that for Israel to "control the territory militarily for along time, we need a civilian presence".
Both Ben Gvir and Smotrich live in settlements in the occupied West Bank,considered illegal under international law.
Hamas on Sunday had also condemned Smotrich's comments as a "vile mockeryand a war crime".
The October 7 Hamas attack left about 1,140 people dead in Israel, mostlycivilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Israel's ongoing offensive, aimed at destroying Hamas, has killed at least21,978 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the healthministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
With heavy combat raging on, 85 percent of people in the besieged GazaStrip have been internally displaced, according to the United Nations.