"A good feeling, July 14 -- JERUSALEM - Surveying the ruins of northern Gaza from what was once a Palestinian neighborhood, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the widespread devastation gives him a "good feeling" and announced plans to permanently place Israeli military outposts across it.

"Instead of entering and leaving, the army is inside, the terrorists are outside, and the houses are destroyed."

The three outposts Katz described are styled as Nahal settlements, a specifically Israeli category combining military presence with civilian infrastructure, historically used in the West Bank and pre-2005 Gaza to anchor Israeli control and precede permanent civilian settlement. He said the outposts would be placed at sites in norther...