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

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected a request to conduct annual Elul rabbinical prayers within the Gaza Strip, according to National Missions Minister Orit Strock. The minister announced Netanyahu's decision at a prayer event held near the Gaza border.

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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 stated that the request, signed by 20 prominent rabbis, was formally submitted 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 told attendees at the event, which marked the 21st anniversary of the burning of synagogues in Gush Katif.

The rabbis' letter emphasized Elul as a time for fasting and prayer, intended to "mark the suffering in the Land of Israel." Minister Strock echoed this sentiment, asserting, "We will not forget and cannot forget that Gaza is ours." She added that 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."

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We will not forget and cannot forget that Gaza is ours.

The prayer event itself was attended by Gush Katif rabbis, security cabinet members, and leaders from the Gush Katif residents' headquarters. Strock concluded her remarks by linking the current moment to national repentance and a return to "regions of the country that we abandoned and neglected," referencing past Israeli settlements in northern Samaria and expressing a desire to do the same in Gaza.

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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.