(Jerusalem) An ultranationalist Israeli minister was sanctioned on Sunday by the head of government Benjamin Netanyahu after affirming that resorting to a nuclear bomb in Gaza, in the war against Palestinian Hamas, was “an option”.
Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu said in a radio interview that he was not entirely satisfied with the scale of Israeli retaliation in the Palestinian territory following the deadly Hamas attack on the land. Israeli on October 7.
To the journalist who asked him in the light of his remarks if the solution would be in his eyes to drop “a kind of nuclear bomb on the entire Gaza Strip, raze it and kill everyone”, the minister replied: “that is an option.
Since October 7, at least 1,400 people have died in Israel, the majority civilians killed on the same day of the Hamas attack, according to the authorities. Nearly 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in the army’s response to Gaza, according to Hamas.
And when the journalist pointed out to him that “destroying the entire Gaza Strip” would also imply a price to be paid by Israel, he suggested that he was ready to accept that the lives of more than 240 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza is put in danger.
“Why the lives of the hostages […] Are they more important than those of our soldiers? “, he said.
“Irresponsible and cruel”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office quickly reacted, denouncing statements “disconnected from reality” and adding that the Israeli army was trying to spare “non-combatants” in Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu suspended the far-right minister’s participation in government meetings “until further notice”.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also condemned “irresponsible comments”. “It’s good that these people are not responsible for Israel’s security,” he added.
Faced with the outcry aroused by his remarks, the minister affirmed on except.”
“But we absolutely need a powerful and disproportionate response to terrorism,” he added.
Mr. Eliyahu’s statements sparked an outraged reaction from the families of the hostages. The main collective representing them denounced “irresponsible and cruel” comments.
“International law, human morality and common sense strictly prohibit the use of weapons of mass destruction,” the collective wrote in a statement, stressing that “the top priority of Israel’s actions in Gaza” must “be the release of the hostages.
Israel, which has never confirmed nor denied possessing atomic weapons, holds 90 nuclear warheads, according to the latest estimates from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
“Call for genocide”
In his radio statements, Mr. Eliyahu further called for the return of Israeli settlers to the Gaza Strip, from where they were unilaterally evacuated in 2005 by the Israeli government of Ariel Sharon.
“We need to start dislodging [les Palestiniens] from the Gaza Strip to make them emigrate to other countries,” he said.
In Gaza, a Hamas spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, said in a statement that the Israeli minister’s statements reflected “the unprecedented terrorism that this government is carrying out against the Palestinian people.”
Jordanian Foreign Affairs denounced “an intolerable call for genocide and a reprehensible incitement to murder and to commit even more war crimes than those already committed against the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip”.
Saudi Arabia also “condemned in the strongest terms” statements that show “the extent of extremism and brutality within the Israeli government.”
The head of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, denounced statements which “reveal the true face of the occupation government”.