The political corridors witnessed confusion and tension on Tuesday following controversial statements made by the Occupation War Minister, Yisrael Katz, regarding the army's permanent presence in the Gaza Strip, which provoked American anger expressed by influential officials in Washington.
Katz was forced to quickly backtrack on his stance, issuing a clarifying statement through his office confirming that the government does not intend to build settlements in the sector, trying to justify the presence of "Nahal Brigade" for purely security purposes, in an attempt to contain the diplomatic crisis with the American ally.
The spark of the crisis was ignited during Katz's participation in a ceremony to sign an agreement to build 1200 housing units in the "Beit El" settlement near Ramallah in the West Bank, where he then claimed that the army would never completely withdraw from Gaza, and even went further by saying that the occupation would establish settlement outposts in the north of the sector at the appropriate time.
These surprising statements prompted a firm American intervention, where the Hebrew Broadcasting Authority quoted an official at the military coordination headquarters led by Washington that the Americans demanded broad clarifications, considering that this approach completely contradicts "Trump's" peace plan which stipulates a gradual and complete withdrawal of the army from the sector.
For its part, Hamas was quick to respond to these threats, where its spokesman, Hazem Qassem, appeared in a recorded speech describing Katz's positions as a "blatant violation" of the ceasefire agreement signed last October.
Qassem accused the occupation of premeditated planning to displace the residents of Gaza, noting that such intentions completely disregard the international understandings that U.S. President Donald Trump sought to establish in the region, which prohibit the re-establishment of civilian settlements in the coastal sector.
Although the Prime Minister of the occupation, Benjamin Netanyahu, had repeatedly ruled out the possibility of returning to settlement in Gaza during the war, the statements of his war minister revealed the extent of pressure exerted by extremist members of the ruling coalition to reoccupy the sector.
The firm American stance, which was characterized by the rejection of any new settlement expansion, is the stumbling block before the ambitions of the extreme right, and the main driver of Katz's retreat from statements that almost undermined the fragile ceasefire agreement.
