A very large number of the settlements were explicitly hybrid military-civilian infrastructure.
The explicit purpose of the main targets of the flood were to be militarized strongpoints for containing Gaza and to act as a vanguard for further encroachment. Meaning they were built by the military, settled by former soldiers, organized as paramilitary, and included detachments of the IDF.
A very large number of the settlements were explicitly hybrid military-civilian infrastructure.
The explicit purpose of the main targets of the flood were to be militarized strongpoints for containing Gaza and to act as a vanguard for further encroachment. Meaning they were built by the military, settled by former soldiers, organized as paramilitary, and included detachments of the IDF.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nahal_settlement