'Closed military zone': IDF stops civilians near Gaza barrier while attempting to cross border
"The area adjacent to the barrier is designated as a closed military zone; entry is strictly prohibited," the military said in a statement.
Several civilians crossed into the barrier separating the Gaza Strip from Israel on Thursday, the IDF said.
The civilians were then stopped by the military and returned to Israel, with no one managing to cross into Gaza itself, the IDF added.
"The area adjacent to the barrier is designated as a closed military zone; entry is strictly prohibited," the IDF emphasized in its statement.
The military didn't comment on why the civilians attempted to enter Gaza or whether they belonged to a particular movement, with the latest civilian attempts to cross into the area being led primarily by far-right groups demanding the Israeli re-settlement of Gaza.
Far-right Nahala group agrees to stop march at Gaza border
Back in July, the Nahala movement organized a march to Gaza that ended inside the Israeli border, after an agreement was reached between organizers and the IDF.
According to a report by Walla, approximately 10,000 people participated in the march, which started at the Zikim beach and ended with a lookout over the settlement of Elei Sinai and the northern border of the Gaza Strip.
In a statement announcing the march, the group said it would call for “the immediate establishment of the settlements of Nissanit, Dugit and Elei Sinai.”
“We call on the public to continue to come in droves and take part in this historic process,” the movement said. “With God’s help, we will soon be able to establish the first settlements in the Gaza Strip – the heavens are marking the border!”
In February, a similar march (which ended with a border crossing) was led by deputy Speaker of the Knesset, MK Limor Son Har-Melech, together with dozens of activists from the movement.
According to the IDF, the activists were apprehended and returned to Israeli territory, where they were transferred to the police.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.