On Monday, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said freeing Israeli captives in Gaza was not the “most important goal” and called for Israel to eliminate the “Gaza problem.”
Smotrich, leader of the far-right Religious Zionist party, suggested Israel had the opportunity to “eliminate” Gaza now that President Biden was out of office, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had been fired, and members of opposition parties were out of the Israeli government.
“We need to eliminate the Gaza problem,” Smotrich said in a radio interview. “We have a tremendous opportunity, and the excuses are gone: there’s no Biden, no Gallant, Gantz or Eisenkot – we must storm Gaza and end the problem, and prove to the whole world and the people of Israel that there is a military solution to terror.”
Smotrich also criticized former IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi for letting some humanitarian aid into Gaza. Smotrich recently said that “not even a grain of wheat” will enter Gaza, which has been under a total Israeli blockade since March 2.
Smotrich’s comments on Monday angered family members of Israeli hostages in Gaza. “The families have only one word this morning: shame. At least the minister is revealing the harsh truth to the public – this government has consciously decided to abandon the hostages,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said, according to Haaretz.
“Minister Smotrich, history will remember how you hardened your heart to your brothers and sisters in captivity and chose not to save them – some from death, others from disappearance,” the group added.
Hamas has repeatedly offered to free all remaining Israeli captives in exchange for a permanent ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, but the Israeli government has refused those terms. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear that his ultimate goal is a total Israeli military occupation of Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population.
