PNN – Within the framework of its strategic goals, the Zionist regime has always been trying to control the Gaza Strip region (bordering Gaza) in order to weaken the possibility of geographical connection between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and prevent the formation of an independent Palestinian state.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, the Gaza Strip has always been in the focus of the Zionist regime’s attention since its liberation by the Palestinian resistance fighters in 2005 and the retreat of the occupiers from this region, and it is of great importance to this regime. This is why the Zionists have always sought to increase their settlements around the Gaza Strip.
The importance and strategic position of Gaza
Gaza is an Arab city in the Gaza Strip in Palestine, which is under the control of the resistance forces and shares 11 borders with Egypt. This city actually plays a central role in Palestinian developments and since the 1980s it has been considered the center of Palestinian resistance against the invaders and has a strategic role in the equation of the conflict with the Zionist regime. Gaza is actually a large camp of Palestinian refugees who fled here after the Nakbat Day in 1948, which was the beginning of the Zionist occupation of the historical land of Palestine.
The population of more than 2 million people in Gaza, which is known as the cradle of intifada and revolutions of the Palestinian nation, is a constant threat to the Zionist enemy, and many Palestinian popular uprisings under the name of intifada have started from this region. After that, Gaza is the main headquarters of the Palestinian resistance, and besides the ideology of the resistance, it has also had a significant impact on the struggle of the Palestinian nation against the Zionist invaders at the military level.
The main Palestinian resistance groups are also present in Gaza, which are the biggest threat to the existence of the anti-Zionists and have become a great strength for all Palestinians inside and outside this land, and the great uprisings that areas such as the West Bank have witnessed and are witnessing are from the resistance. Gaza has also become the axis of Palestinian unity during the past years; especially after the “Sword of Quds” battle in May 2021, during which the resistance groups in Gaza started an admirable battle against the Zionist enemy to defend the people of Quds and Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Today, the Gaza resistance has started a major operation under the title of “Al-Aqsa Storm” in response to the crimes of the occupying enemy against the Palestinian people and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
In this regard, Al Jazeera in a short report discussed the reasons for the importance of the Gaza Strip for the Zionist regime and wrote that successive Israeli cabinets after the withdrawal of this regime from the Gaza Strip in 2005 paid special attention to this area and strengthened the process of building settlements around it.
According to this report, the number of settlements around the Gaza Strip is about 50, which were built in the Gaza Strip between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. These settlements are managed by 3 institutions called regional councils affiliated with the Israeli cabinet.
The institution known as “Eshkol” council is the first regional council of the Zionist regime in the Gaza Strip, which is located in an area of ​​380 km and where more than 13 thousand settlers live in 32 settlements.
Ashkelon Council is also located in an area of ​​175 km where 17 thousand settlers live in 4 settlements. The third council is “Shaer Hangf” council, which is located in an area of ​​180 km and includes 11 settlements, and more than 7 thousand Zionists live in these settlements.
The Zionist regime is trying to change the demographic situation of the Gaza Strip from these conditions and makes tempting offers to the residents of the settlements around this area, who are mostly Eastern Jews, and use them as a geographical and demographic barrier against the Palestinians.
Palestinian resistance fighters have targeted these strategic settlements of the Zionist regime since Saturday with the start of Al-Aqsa storm operation, and as the Hebrew media admits, 20 settlements have been destroyed in this area.