Tsav 9: the group of illegal Israeli settler Zionist extremists blocking aid to starving Palestinians in Gaza

In the early hours of yesterday morning, 15 September, colonial Israeli settlers – a group known as Tsav 9 – blocked flour trucks which had come from Jordan and were heading to an Israeli occupation’s military depot on the Gaza Strip border, and were then supposed to find their way to the starving population of Gaza.

Tsav 9: hardline group of Zionists blocking aid to Gaza

These illegal West Bank settlers, along with Israeli occupation forces (IOF) reservists, and families of hostages make up the hardline Zionist group known as Tsav 9. The group vowed no aid would enter Gaza until all of the Israeli hostages are returned, and has played a central role in blocking humanitarian relief from entering the Strip. Its tactics include blockading roads, harassing drivers, slashing tyres, and vandalising trucks.

Tsav 9’s name is in reference to the IDF’s ‘Order 8’, the emergency mobilisation order for Israeli reservists, that was activated on 7 October 2023, and the group has become a symbol of extreme protest and violent obstruction, while millions in Gaza are being starved to death by the Israeli occupation.

Tsav 9’s first action was in January 2024. As Israel’s siege on the Gaza Strip intensified, 100 humanitarian aid trucks were physically stopped from entering Gaza, by activists who had camped out for three days at the Kerem-Shalom crossing. In May 2024, the group not only threw life-saving aid onto the road, but also set fire to humanitarian aid trucks, injuring drivers at a border crossing near Hebron, in the West Bank.

Schlomo Sarid: extremist illegal settler ‘activist’

This action led to Biden sanctioning individuals from Tsav 9, including its founder, Shlomo Sarid.

Sarid is an illegal settler activist, in the occupied West Bank’s Jordan Valley and an army reservist, who served in Gaza after 7 October 2023. He also participated in discussions about the ‘General’s Plan’, to ethnically cleanse Northern Gaza of Palestinians, which is now being implemented on Gaza’s starving population.

Trump officially became president on 20 January 2025, and by 24 January he had lifted sanctions on many extremist Israeli colonial settlers and Zionist organisations, including Tsav 9 and also Sarid:

An investigative piece, aired three days ago on Channel 12 News, reveals that the people behind the Generals' Plan are right-wing activists, who are planning Israeli settlement in Gaza as the next stage (act surprised).
The main guy behind it seems to be Shlomo Sarid, one of the… https://t.co/QUvlsBoeZK pic.twitter.com/DSiJPfF5Ej

— B.M. (@ireallyhateyou) October 24, 2024

Supported by Israeli ministers

These extremist Israeli activists in Tsav 9 are not only being given intelligence as to the movement of humanitarian supplies from both IOF soldiers and the occupation’s police, but are also supported by extremist Israeli Ministers, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who were both sanctioned by the UK in June this year for “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities” in the West Bank, and are also calling for aid to be blocked from getting into Gaza, and to starve Palestinians as collective punishment.

Those Israelis who are part of Tsav 9 and associated settler groups, who loot, disrupt, and stop aid convoys from entering Gaza in this time of famine, have contributed to this modern day holocaust, of which the Israeli regime is this time the perpetrator – of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against the entire Palestinian population.

Persistent obstruction of basic supplies and denial of entry by the Israeli occupation authorities, has meant over two million people face extreme hunger and acute shortages of food, clean water, medicine, and shelter. Hospitals are overwhelmed, and malnutrition is rampant, especially among children, pregnant women, and older people. Palestinians are now really struggling to survive.

Featured image via the Canary