Expansionism amid genocide: Hamas raps Israeli conference on illegal settlements in Gaza

The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement has condemned an Israeli meeting on return of settlements to the Gaza Strip and the northern part of the West Bank, saying the event reflects the Tel Aviv regime’s ulterior motives to press ahead with its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

“Yesterday’s conference, sponsored by the incumbent fascist administration of the Zionist entity and attended by dozens of ministers as well as members of the Knesset (Israeli parliament), signifies the regime’s ulterior motives to continue with the strategies of displacement and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian nation,” Hamas said in a statement on Monday.

It added that the “Return to Gaza” conference, which promoted building illegal settlements in Gaza, also “attests to the rogue regime’s blatant disregard for international principles and resolutions, as well as the recent International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that ordered it to take steps to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza.”

The Gaza-based resistance movement called on the international community and the United Nations to take a firm stance against the conference, vehemently denounce it as an event aimed at ethnic cleansing, and stand up to the ongoing arrogance and genocide by the Tel Aviv regime.

It also urged international bodies to take necessary measures and to protect the Palestinian nation in accordance with the ICJ rulings.

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On Sunday, hundreds of members of the Israeli settler community gathered for a conference in the occupied city of al-Quds, calling for the reconstruction of settlements in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli Keshet 12 television channel reported that a dozen ministers from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud political party, along with so-called security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich took part in the conference.

Israel withdrew its military and settlers from Gaza in 2005 after a 38-year occupation.

The international community regards Israeli settlements – hundreds of which have been built across the West Bank since Tel Aviv’s occupation of the territory in 1967 – as illegal under international law and the Geneva Conventions given that they have been constructed on the occupied territories.

The UN Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions. The Palestinians have historically demanded that the West Bank serve as part of their future state with East al-Quds, which is located inside the territory, as its capital.

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