Israeli ministers, including Ben-Gvir, call for flag-raising ceremony in former Gaza settlement

In a letter published by the ultranationalist pro-settlement movement Nachala, which kickstarted the initiative, they said "it is time to proudly affirm that Gaza is part of the Land of Israel, belongs exclusively to the Jewish people, and must therefore immediately become part of the State of Israel".

"We request an authorisation for this event, which is essentially intended to hoist the Israeli flag over the ruins of the town of Nissanit," the letter reads, referring to a former Israeli settlement in the northern Gaza Strip dismantled during Israel's withdrawal from the territory in 2005.

Among the letter's signatories were far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as well as eight ministers from Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, including Transport Minister Miri Regev, a close Netanyahu ally.

The letter was also signed by 21 members of the Knesset - out of the parliament's 120 lawmakers - from Ben-Gvir's Jewish Power party and Likud, who are not part of Netanyahu's cabinet like the ministers.

Nachala announced plans to hold "a flag-raising ceremony in Nissanit", which lies in an area of Gaza now under Israeli army control.

The event is scheduled for 18 December, the fifth night of Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish festival of lights which begins on Sunday.

The defence ministry did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment on the letter.

On Wednesday evening, the Israeli army said it had arrested "several Israeli civilians (who) crossed the border from Israeli territory into the Gaza Strip".

Honenu, an Israeli legal aid organisation that assists detainees mainly from settler communities, said in a statement on Thursday that "dozens of right-wing activists crossed the border fence with Gaza on Wednesday to call for the establishment of a settlement... on the ruins of Nissanit."

Under the fragile ceasefire that came into effect on 10 October in war-battered Gaza, the Israeli military withdrew to a line inside the Gaza Strip that allows it to control over more than half of the territory, devastated by two years of war.

Under the US-sponsored Gaza peace plan endorsed in November by the UN Security Council, Israeli troops are expected to gradually withdraw from the Gaza Strip.