TEL AVIV — An extremist minister in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government publicly called for Israeli forces to kill “30 to 40” people in Gaza every night, comments that surfaced on Sunday and were quickly shared by media outlets around the world.Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir made the comments while speaking to Rom Braslavski, a former Israeli captive held in Gaza as Israel waged a genocidal war on the territory after the Hamas-led attacks in October 2023, on his podcast.The pair were discussing Israel’s recovery from the 7 October attack, when Ben-Gvir criticized Israel’s recent drawdown of strikes in Gaza.Ben-Gvir told Braslavski that he disagreed with Netanyahu’s decision to scale back military strikes in Gaza under the current “ceasefire”, arguing instead for renewed targeted assassinations that would go beyond people considered active threats.“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,” said the far-right Israeli minister.“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,” added Ben-Gvir.Ben-Gvir also promised Braslavski that he would seek to allow him to personally take part if prisoners are executed under Israel’s recently enacted death penalty law for Palestinians convicted in military courts of deadly attacks on Israelis.“I have a personal request, and I am truly looking you in the eyes, minister. Let me be the one who hangs them,” Braslavski told Ben-Gvir.“I don’t want a rope; I want a button on a gun. With my own hands, I will execute every terrorist in the state of Israel,” he added.Ben-Gvir replied: “I will turn the world upside down to make that happen. I promise you that I will do everything I can and turn the world upside down until it happens.”Ben-Gvir’s comments fit a pattern stretching back decades, from his teenage involvement with the outlawed nationalist Kahanist movement.In the past, similar statements by Ben-Gvir and other Israeli officials were widely condemned.Many have been presented to the UN’s world court as evidence of genocidal intent. Israel denies it has committed genocide in Gaza in its military offensive which has killed more than 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza across two years, according to medical sources.Local Israeli media has made scarce mention of the statement, highlighting how once-fringe ideologies like Ben-Gvir’s are surging in the leadup to Israeli election, scheduled for 27 October.Figures like Ben-Gvir have become more popular among Israelis since the Hamas offensive due to his hardline rhetoric advocating for more suppression of the group and greater control over Gaza.The extremist minister, who has been banned in more than 10 countries, including France, Belgium, Spain, the UK, Canada and Australia, 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 occupied 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.Until recently, Israel was striking Gaza nearly every day, attacks that have killed over 1,250 people since an October truce deal came into effect, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.Israel’s military appeared to ease off on the attacks in a quiet concession to President Donald Trump after Netanyahu rejected the US president’s 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.In the same taped appearance, Ben-Gvir advocated for mass emigration of Palestinians from Gaza and resettlement of Gaza by Israel.International lawyers have warned that mass, forced or engineered emigration of this kind could amount to ethnic cleansing.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,” said Ben-Gvir 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,” he added.
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