When someone who lived for decades in Israel’s Gaza‑border envelope—and survived the horror of 7 October—calls the current proposals for Gaza nothing more than a fata morgana, we should pause. Yariv Hag’bi has become an outspoken commentator following the events of that Black Shabbat, speaking regularly in Israeli media. His message resonates because he does not speak from ideology alone. He speaks from soil, loss, and vigilant observation. And Hag’bi’s prescription to the problem of the “day after” in Gaza is to restore Jewish civilian settlement, which he now sees as the only sustainable guarantee of security for the nation.

From trauma to clarity

Yariv Hag’bi lives in the Gaza envelope in the small community of Yakhini, has lost his brother in the 7 October massacre, and has witnessed what he calls 25 years of rockets, drones and flaming balloons raining down on his home. He summarizes his vantage with biting candor, telling the right-wing Israeli news outlet HaKol HaYehudi (Jewish Voice): “Those looking from the outside think this...

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