Israeli Cabinet members and officials with the ruling Likud party called Monday for the reestablishment of illegal Israeli settlements in Gaza and for the ethnic cleansing of the territory’s Palestinian inhabitants. Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir spoke from a conference of settler groups and ultranationalists near Israel’s border with Gaza, where he declared, “We will encourage voluntary transfer of all Gazan citizens. We will offer them the opportunity to move to other countries because that land belongs to us.” The conference was organized by the Nachala Settlement Movement, whose leader, Daniella Weiss, said thousands of settlers are set to move to Gaza.

Daniella Weiss: “We came here with one clear purpose. The purpose is to settle the entire Gaza Strip — not just part of it, not just a few settlements, the entire Gaza Strip, from north to south. Thousands of people are ready to move to Gaza now. As a result of the brutal massacre of the 7th of October, the Gaza Arabs lost the right to be here ever, so they will go to the different countries of the world. They will not stay here.”