Bill to Repeal Gaza Disengagement Restrictions Heads to Ministers Committee

A bill by MK Limor Son Har-Melech is set to come before the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday, with the stated goal of canceling the Disengagement Law provisions that bar Israelis from being present in the Gaza Strip. The proposal would remove the legal prohibition on Jewish presence and movement in the area from Israel’s statute books, which its supporters describe as correcting a historical injustice.

Son Har-Melech, the deputy speaker of the Knesset and a member of Otzma Yehudit, is advancing the bill together with partners from the Israel Land Lobby. The initiative is presented as a direct continuation of the earlier effort to repeal the disengagement law in northern Samaria, a move completed in early 2023.

That previous amendment restored the settlements of Homesh and Sa-Nur to the settlement map, and the activists are now pushing for renewed settlement efforts in Ganim and Kadim as well. The current bill seeks to apply the same principle to Gaza, making the first legal step toward renewed Jewish settlement there.

In her remarks, Son Har-Melech said that more than 20 years after the evacuation from Gush Katif and northern Samaria, it was time to complete the correction of what she called a historical wrong. She argued that the events of October 7 showed that withdrawals and the expulsion of Jews do not bring security, and said the response should be to strengthen Israel’s hold on the land. She added that there are no areas in the Land of Israel from which Jews should be barred, and that the bill is a first step toward fully reversing disengagement and returning Jewish communities to the places they were uprooted from.