The appointment of 21 illegal settlements was Israel in Gaza 20 years ago Israeli conflict news

In September 2005Israeli forces withdrew from the Gaza Strip, where the last forces were left through the karara crossings (Kissovim) and Beit Hannon (Irerez).

The withdrawal was seen at that time as a historical transformation point, which raises hopes in nearly four decades of military occupation.

But instead of giving up control, Israel has re -placed itself on the edges of Gaza. The lands were closed by land, sea and air, restricting the movement through fence crossings, imposing borders on fishing water, and maintaining monitoring from the top.

In this visual explanation, Al -Jazeera dismantled the factors that led to a plan to dismantle the minister minister at the time, Ariel Sharon, and plan 21 illegal settlements that were dismantled by Israel via Gaza, and exploring how they paved their way to expand the deeper settlement across the occupied West Bank.

What led to the disengagement?

The idea of ​​disengagement was imagined in Gaza in the first place and defended by Sharon.

Sharon, one of the strong supporters of the Israeli settlements, began to consider the withdrawal of Gaza in the early first decade of the twentieth century, especially after the outbreak of the second intifada (2000-05).

The idea was the high cost of defending isolated settlements, the demographic challenges of judging the great Palestinian population, and the strategic goal of uniting Israel’s grip on larger illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Despite the confrontation with a severe opposition from within the Likud party and through the political spectrum, Sharon pushed forward the plan, and put it as a strategic step rather than a privilege.

The proposal, officially known in the Hebrew language as “Hitnatkut” (disengagement), was announced in December 2003 and was finally approved by Knesateet in October 2004, paving the way for the dismantling of 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the northern West Bank in 2005.

The timetable for the separation of Gaza

• June 6, 2004 -The Israeli Cabinet voted 14-7 in favor of the dismantling plan for Prime Minister Sharon, which paves the way for withdrawing from Gaza.
• February 16, 2005 – Knesset passes the law of implementing disengagement, providing the legal framework for evacuation and compensation.
• August 15, 2005 – Israeli forces begin to dismantle settlements and remove settlers from Gaza.
• August 22, 2005 All 21 settlements are emptied in Gaza, which resulted in the removal of about 8,000 settlers.
• 23-24 August 2005 Attention is transferred to the northern West Bank, where four settlements (Al -Ghanem, Al -Humash, Kadim, Sanor) are dismantled.
• September 12, 2005 -Military pocket cars and armored bulldozers leave through the Kara and Beit Hannon crossing points, which ends 38 years of the continuous Israeli military presence in the tape.

Where was the 21 illegal settlement in Gaza?

After the six -day war in 1967, when Israel occupied Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula, the settlement building intensified.

Israeli Settlements They are Jewish societies only based on the Palestinian territories. The settlements are illegal under international law because they involve the transfer of the civilian population in the occupied authority to occupied lands, which violate the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The first settlement in Gaza after 1967 was the KFAR DAROM, which was created as a commercial focus of agriculture in 1970 and was later transferred to a civil society. It became part of Gush Katif, the largest Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip, located in southern Gaza, where most settlements were focused, especially in the provinces of Khan Yunis and Rafraa.

Other settlements included Netzarim, directly south of Gaza City, and many sites in northern Gaza. These settlements were strongly protected by the Israeli army and surrounded by buffer areas restricting the Palestinian movement.

Over the next three decades, a total of 21 settlements have been built, including about 8,000 settlers.

Although settlers make up only 0.6 percent of Gaza population, they control nearly 20 percent of its territory, which affects about 1.3 million Palestinians living in the region at that time.

During the continuous Israel war on Gaza, it built many corridors called the name of the settlements that are linked to it, including Netzarim and Morag, one of the largest and most prominent settlements in the region.

Expanding the settlement through the West Bank

Since the 2005 Israeli association with Gaza, the settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem accelerated. Today, there are between 600,000 and 750,000 Israeli settlers living in at least 250 settlements and settlement foci.

Many of these settlements expanded while new settlement sites were created, and often strategically lies to control roads, high lands and major resources, which effectively prevents Palestinians from reaching their lands and limiting their freedom in their movement.

One of the latest settlement for Israel Ads It came in August 2025, when Finance Minister Paisalel Smotrich agreed to build about 3,400 housing units in E1, between East Jerusalem and the illegal settlement of Mall Aderum.

E1 is strategically important, as it constitutes one of the latest geographical ties between Bethlehem and Ramallah, and the expansion there can undermine the plans of a regional adjacent Palestinian state.