The encampment, featuring rows of tents, demountables, caravans, a classroom lined with religious texts and a children's jumping castle, was established without permission from the Jewish National Fund, which controls the forest land. Police have been present but passive. When officers asked someone from the camp to join them for questioning, the settlers declined and the police gave up. Chaim said authorities are 'working together' with them. Israel's police force is controlled by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, himself a far-right settler who has been sanctioned by Australia for inciting violence against Palestinians.
The camp's arrival days before Israel's first national election since 2022 sends a deliberate message about the settlers' priorities. Two of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's senior ministers, Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, are campaigning on a platform of returning Jewish settlers to Gaza. Both have been sanctioned by Australia. 'I want all of Gaza. I want Gaza to be ours, I want it Zionist, I want it secure,' Smotrich told a campaign event this month. Ben-Gvir told Time magazine that 'if Israel wants to continue to live and not be destroyed, we have to capture all of Gaza.' Defence Minister Israel Katz, a Likud member, said in July he intended to set up three military outposts in northern Gaza, a move traditionally seen as a prelude to civilian settlements.
Rabbi Duv Fendel, who travels from Sderot to teach Torah at the camp, described the 2005 disengagement that removed 21 Jewish settlements and 8,000 settlers from Gaza as 'one of the most hideous crimes in Zionism.' On the two million Palestinians living in Gaza, he said: 'They lost the war and when you lose you have to face the consequences. Relocating is the least they could do.' Chaim suggested Palestinians could relocate to Australia. 'Don't you have room for them?' she asked.
The encampment has drawn both support and opposition. Eliyahu Aton, a former Israeli military serviceman, drove 45 minutes to offer solidarity, arguing resettlement would improve security after the October 7, 2023 attacks. Danny Rahamim, a leader of the nearby Nahal Oz kibbutz, called the settlers 'crazy,' saying resettlement 'would be like poking two fingers in their eye.'
A poll by the Israel Democracy Institute last year found 40 percent of Jewish Israelis support settlement of the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu has repeatedly insisted that Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population. The Trump peace plan states that 'Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza.'