'Israel military will never fully withdraw from Gaza'

Jerusalem: Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that the military would never fully withdraw from the Gaza Strip for security reasons and that a civilian-military army unit would be established in the Palestinian enclave.

According to a U.S.-backed peace plan signed by both Israel and Hamas in October, the Israeli military will gradually withdraw completely from the coastal enclave and Israel will not re-establish civilian settlements in the coastal territory.

"We are located deep inside Gaza and we will never leave all of Gaza. There will never be such a thing. We are there to protect, to prevent what happened," Katz said in a speech, referring to Hamas' October 7, 2023 raid on Israel. Referring to units of the Israeli military, Katz said: "When the time comes, in northern Gaza ... we will build Nahal units instead of the (Israeli) communities that were displaced. We will do so in the right way at the right time."


"We don't trust anybody else to protect our citizens," he said, pointing to what he said was also a need to be also in Lebanon and Syria.