Netanyahu denies request that annual Elul prayer be held in Gaza Strip, Minister Strock says

"We will not forget and cannot forget that Gaza is ours," Strock said at a prayer event near the Gaza border attended by prominent Gush Katif rabbis and members of the security cabinet.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied a request by National Missions Minister Orit Strock that the annual Elul rabbinical prayers be held inside the Gaza Strip, the minister said on Friday.

Strock made the announcement as part of a prayer event held at Kissufim Tower near Gaza marking the 21st anniversary of the burning of synagogues in Gush Katif, noting that the request was made two weeks prior at the conclusion of a security cabinet meeting.

"The prime minister seriously considered this request, but at the end of the day, to my great regret, he gave me a negative answer," Strock said at the event.

The request came in the form of a letter signed by 20 prominent rabbis from across religious Zionism, Strock noted, reading a paragraph from the letter that emphasized Elul as a day of fasting and prayer meant to "mark the suffering in the Land of Israel."

"We will not forget and cannot forget that Gaza is ours," Strock added. "Gaza belongs to the people of Israel, and the new Gaza will indeed be built, but it will be built for the benefit of its true sons, the sons of the people of Israel."

Gush Katif rabbis, security cabinet members attend prayer event

The Gush Katif residents' headquarters and Professor Yoel Elitzur led the prayer event, which was further attended by Gush Katif rabbis Yaakov Midan and Yosef Elnakvah, and members of the security cabinet.

"We are in the process of a great national repentance, returning to the regions of the country that we abandoned and neglected, and we did it in northern Samaria, and we will do it here too, in the Gaza Strip," she concluded.