Six Israeli settler activists were arrested Friday night during a Shabbat dinner next to the Erez Crossing into Gaza, where they were spending a Shabbat dedicated to calling for the resettlement by Israel of the Gaza Strip.

The six people arrested, all of whom were men, were part of a group of some 50 activists who participated in the event and who are connected to an organized, ultranationalist campaign lobbying for Jewish settlements to be built once again in Gaza.

The event was organized by two groups, Shavei Aza and Back to Home, which are promoting the resettlement of Gaza.

The six individuals, who were arrested on charges of entering a closed military zone, appeared in front of the Beersheba Magistrate’s Court on Saturday night and were released on bail.

The remainder of the group, which included five families and several dozen youths, spent the rest of what they described as “a very successful and uplifting Shabbat” in a little encampment at the Erez complex, according to the organizers.

“We have no reason to be in the Middle East if we are not strengthening our connection to the Land of Israel,” said Yair Harel Ben Baruch of Shavei Aza.

“We believe that the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people, Gaza is part of the Land of Israel, we want to rebuild the temple and we believe that the vision of the prophets is true,” he continued.

Ben Baruch also claimed that rebuilding Jewish settlements in Gaza would increase, not decrease, Israeli security, arguing that territorial retreats from Gaza and southern Lebanon had emboldened and strengthened terror groups.

In a statement issued on Sunday morning, the group of activists said that it was also protesting the possibility of allowing internally displaced Gazans from the north of the territory to return to their homes, saying such a move would endanger IDF soldiers operating there and would also “make a mockery of the achievement of conquering the north of the Gaza Strip which our heroic soldiers made great sacrifices to achieve.”

Back in February, several dozen settler activists participating in a march organized by the radical Nachala pro-settlement group broke through the Erez checkpoint. Some built a symbolic structure representing a new settlement on the other side of the concrete wall of the Erez crossing but still within Israeli territory, while about nine others actually entered some 500 meters into Gaza before being stopped by the IDF and brought back to Israel.

Those activists were arrested and also brought before the Beersheba Magistrate’s Court, but no charges have been filed against them.

Ben Baruch was one of the activists who broke into Erez and built the temporary structure. He was issued with a three-month restraining order banning him from visiting the area.

Nachala held a large rally in Jerusalem in January attended by several thousand activists laying out its plans to build six new settlements in the Gaza Strip through the efforts of dedicated settler groups designated to each of the proposed new settlement sites.

Eleven cabinet ministers and 15 coalition MKs participated in the conference and pledged to rebuild the settlements, with ultra-nationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir calling for the “voluntary” emigration of Gazans from the territory, and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi of the Likud even endorsing the forcible transfer of Palestinians from Gaza.

The three members of the war cabinet — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister Benny Gantz — have rejected the possibility of rebuilding any Israeli settlements in Gaza.