Orit Strook, Israel’s settlements and national missions minister, sat down with JNS at her Knesset office in Jerusalem and discussed the importance of ensuring the complete demilitarization of Gaza.
“Regarding Gaza, we are seeing an effort by the Arab world—together with Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey—to sideline the plan’s central objective, which is the demilitarization of Gaza,” Strook said.
“This is the entry ticket to implementing the Trump peace plan. Suddenly, we are hearing that full demilitarization is not really necessary—that there could be partial demilitarization, in which only heavy weapons are seized while firearms remain, or that it could be done in stages, demilitarizing a bit and rehabilitating [the Strip] a bit. We hear countries say they want to be part of the peace plan, but will not demilitarize Hamas. We hear Hamas itself say it will not demilitarize. This is what worries the government most today,” she continued.
“There is no point in taking assault weapons and leaving them with firearms. It’s an organization that is not supposed to control Gaza at all—in any capacity, civilian or military. That’s not me saying it; it’s Trump’s plan. There is no reason to leave them with toy weapons, let alone terror tunnels,” Strook added.
Strook noted that approximately 70% of Hamas’s terror tunnels remain usable. “The freed hostages who returned last October said that until the very last moment they were there, Hamas continued digging tunnels. They are digging tunnels now and producing weapons,” she said.
Strook stressed that no one is minimizing the importance of securing the return of the last remaining Israeli hostage held in Gaza, Ran Gvili, which she said could have been achieved earlier.
“Hamas is dragging its feet in order to re-establish its rule, rearm and build the conspiracy it is engaged in now—working jointly to bypass demilitarization. It’s a game aimed at achieving its strategic goal of canceling demilitarization,” she said.
Judea and Samaria
Pivoting to Judea and Samaria, Strook indicated that all of the significant developments of recent years were initially approved under the Biden administration, including the return to northern Samaria, establishment of new towns and farms, the fight against the Fayyad plan [for the unilateral establishment of a Palestinian state], and the transfer of powers from the Palestinian Authority in Areas A and B.
“There should be a huge gap between Trump and Biden, but we don’t see it. We expected serious progress,” she said.
Strook expressed deep disappointment at the approach of treating the Palestinian Authority as a legitimate body, arguing that the P.A. is not legitimate, and not just because of its “pay for slay” policy.
“From the day it entered Judea and Samaria, the P.A. has educated children to engage in terror, incited terrorism and rewarded terrorists. Their prisons are used as shelters for terrorists,” she said.
“Terrorists who don’t want to go to Israeli prisons go to P.A. prisons, which have five-star-hotel conditions. A recent indictment showed that terrorists committed murder, went to P.A. prisons, armed themselves there, carried out an attack, and then returned to P.A. prisons,” she continued.
Strook said the P.A. also harms Israel in the legal arena and is behind the International Criminal Court arrest warrant targeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even though it was formally initiated by South Africa.
“They’re not legitimate, and saying that if they behave the right way, they might become legitimate is wrong. In essence, they are terrorists in suits. There is a strong expectation that Trump will break with the Biden approach. It makes no sense to receive more of the same under President Trump than we had under Biden,” she said.
Strook emphasized that Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria is not just part of her Religious Zionism Party’s agenda but rather of all right-wing parties.
“We don’t need to tell the prime minister. It’s the same with the demilitarization of Gaza; it’s not just my position. All ministers in the Cabinet agree,” she said.
