JERUSALEM — An extremist Cabinet member in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government publicly advocated for killing “30 to 40” people in Gaza each night, comments that surfaced Sunday and were quickly shared by Palestinian media.Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir made the statement while speaking to a former Hamas-held hostage in Gaza, Rom Braslavski, on Braslavski’s podcast. The two were discussing Israel’s recovery from the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, when Ben-Gvir criticized Israel’s recent drawdown of strikes in the Gaza Strip. “It’s no secret, I disagree with the prime minister,” he said. “I think targeted assassinations should be carried out in Gaza, taking down 30 to 40 every night. Not just those who pose an immediate threat — there are people there who are not worthy of life. They shouldn’t live. They’re not even people.”In the past, similar statements by Ben-Gvir and other Israeli officials were widely condemned. Many have been presented to the United Nations world court as evidence of genocidal intent. Israel denies it has committed genocide in Gaza.Israel’s domestic media has made scarce mention of the statement, highlighting how once-fringe ideologies like Ben-Gvir’s are surging in the lead-up to Israeli elections Oct. 27. Figures like Ben-Gvir have become more popular among Israelis since Hamas’ brutal attack in 2023, when the militants killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostage. Many hostages have recounted long-term starvation, physical and psychological abuse and, in some cases, sexual abuse. One of Israel’s most influential leadersBen-Gvir does not have power over the country’s military and cannot order strikes on Gaza. But, after operating for decades within Israel’s far-right fringe, he is now one of the most influential people in the country. He has substantial control over key parts of Israel’s security apparatus, running the country’s prisons — where thousands of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank are incarcerated — as well as the national police force.He has previously boasted of lessening food rations for Palestinian prisoners. Israel’s top court ruled in 2025 that the prison service under Ben-Gvir was depriving Palestinians of a minimum subsistence diet.Critical of reducing strikes in GazaUntil recently, Israel was striking Gaza nearly every day, attacks that have killed more than 1,250 people since an October ceasefire deal came into effect, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Hundreds of civilians, including women and children, are among the dead, according to the ministry, whose casualty information is deemed reliable by the U.N. and other international monitors. Israel’s military, which says the strikes have targeted Hamas militants, appeared to ease off on the attacks in a quiet concession to President Trump after Netanyahu rejected his latest attempt to move the truce forward.Israeli media last week reported that the authority for carrying out strikes has now been limited to the army’s chief of staff, raising the ire of right-wing lawmakers such as Ben-Gvir. Mass emigration, expulsion of PalestiniansIn the same taped appearance, the lawmaker advocated for mass emigration of Palestinians from Gaza — a proposal that international lawyers say could amount to ethnic cleansing — and resettlement of Gaza by Israel.Twenty years ago, Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip, dismantling a block of 21 Jewish settlements known as “Gush Katif” and pulling out its forces.“I see all of Gaza as ours,” Ben-Gvir said in the interview. “Settlements not just in Gush Katif but throughout Gaza, encouraging as much emigration as possible, sending them to their countries, and for the terrorists, no emigration, nothing, just to kill them one by one.”Trump’s latest proposal involves Hamas gradually giving up its weapons while Israeli forces halt their attacks and begin withdrawing from Gaza. Hamas accepted the deal, although the group linked the surrender of its heaviest weapons to the creation of a Palestinian state, something Israel’s current government and most of its political class adamantly reject.Netanyahu says Israel will not retreat from any of its positions in Gaza until Hamas has been completely disarmed. The stance leaves other elements of the ceasefire, including the deployment of international forces and any reconstruction of the devastated territory, on hold.Frankel writes for the Associated Press.
