Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order the “full conquest” of Gaza and the establishment of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territory.
Smotrich made the comments at an event marking the re-establishment of Sa-Nur, an illegal Jewish settlement in the northern Israeli-occupied West Bank that was evacuated in 2005 as part of a policy known as the “disengagement,” which also resulted in the evacuation of settlements in Gaza.
“Instead of handing territory to the enemy — take territory from the enemy,” said Smotrich, who also holds a position in the defense ministry that gives him the power to expand settlements in the West Bank.
“I call on the prime minister to order the IDF to prepare immediately for the full conquest of the Gaza Strip, to establish Israeli control over all the territory of the Strip, and to establish Israeli settlement in it. Without settlement, there will be no security,” Smotrich added. “For a hundred years, it has been proven — where the plow passes, the border and security follow. The war must end in an expansion of the State of Israel’s borders.”
Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism party, is one of the Israeli government’s most outspoken proponents of the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and Israeli takeover of the territory. His position is not a fringe view in the government, as it has also been expressed by other senior officials, including Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, who has previously stated that Israel will never leave Gaza and will eventually start establishing settlements.
Katz also attended the event at the Sa-Nur settlement and vowed that Israel will continue operations in Lebanon despite the ceasefire, saying that he “instructed the IDF to act with full force, from the ground and from the air, even during the ceasefire.”
The event came amid Israel’s constant violations of the ceasefire deal in Gaza, where Israeli attacks have killed more than 775 Palestinians since the agreement was signed in early October 2025. IDF troops continue to occupy more than 50% of the territory, and there’s no sign of progress in implementing President Trump’s plan for the Palestinian territory.
