Gaza should be wiped out for ‘Zionist reasons’ – Israeli minister

Bezalel Smotrich has described the enclave’s population as “1.8 million Nazis” and called for the territory to be completely taken over, while denying this would constitute genocide

Gaza should be wiped out entirely, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said, describing its inhabitants as “Nazis” and demanding that Israel take the entire territory for “Zionist and security reasons.”

Speaking at a public event on Monday, the Religious Zionist Party leader defended his previous endorsement of a call to wipe out Huwara, a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank. He claimed critics had misrepresented his remarks as advocating the killing of women and children.

“Yes, we need to wipe out Gaza, for example. Not commit genocide, God forbid,” Smotrich said.

He described Gaza as a “terror entity with 1.8 million Nazis” educated over generations to hate Israel, claiming they were capable of slaughter, rape and murdering children. Such an entity “should not exist,” he said, adding that the same applied to Huwara.

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Smotrich went on to demand full Israeli ownership of the enclave. “I don’t want Gush Katif. I want all of Gaza,” he said, referring to the Israeli settlement bloc evacuated in 2005. “I want Gaza to be ours. I want it for Zionist reasons. I want it for security reasons.”

Smotrich and fellow coalition minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have repeatedly advocated renewed Israeli settlement in Gaza. Last month, Ben-Gvir unveiled a proposal to move most residents abroad over seven years under the label “voluntary migration,” despite Palestinians’ opposition to leaving.

Smotrich, a West Bank settler who also oversees civilian affairs in the occupied territory, has backed settlement expansion intended to prevent Palestinian statehood. In July, he announced more than $400 million for 34 new settlements. The E1 project east of Jerusalem has drawn international condemnation for threatening to fragment a future Palestinian state.

The expansion has accompanied escalating settler violence. UN figures cited in July showed that at least 117 Palestinian communities had been completely or partially displaced by settler attacks.

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The territorial rhetoric has also extended beyond Gaza and the West Bank. Netanyahu has expressed support for a “Greater Israel” vision while US envoy to Israel Mike Huckabee told Tucker Carlson in February that “it would be fine if they took it all” when asked about Jewish biblical claims stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates.

A UN commission concluded last year that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza while the International Criminal Court has separately issued warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Israel has rejected the accusations.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza following the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians. More than 74,000 Palestinians, including at least 21,000 children, have since been killed in Gaza, according to local health authorities.