Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Senior Israeli minister says Israel must issue its own ultimatum to Hamas and threaten to annex parts of the Gaza Strip every time a hostage is harmed, claiming Trump fully backs such a move.
By David Rosenberg, World Israel News
A senior Israeli government minister has proposed Israel take punitive steps against the Hamas terror organization, including the incremental annexation of the Gaza Strip in response to the harming of Israeli hostages.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) put forth a plan on Tuesday for pressuring Hamas into returning Israeli hostages. A day earlier, the terror group announced that it was suspending the scheduled release of Israeli hostages, slated for this coming Saturday.
Speaking at a conference on the integration of the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) population, Smotrich laid out his plan to pressure Hamas.
“We need to set an ultimatum for Hamas,” Smotrich said, a day after Trump issued his own ultimatum, demanding the terror group release all Israeli hostages still in captivity by Saturday at noon.
“Cut off their electricity and water and stop the humanitarian aid,” Smotrich said. “We must open the gates of hell.”
The minister further proposed that for every hostage harmed in captivity, Israel would annex 5% of the Gaza Strip – a position he claimed has the backing of President Donald Trump.
“For each hostage that something…happens to, on that same day, we will annex 5% of the Gaza Strip. We have the full backing of President Trump,” he said.
In addition, Smotrich called on the IDF to actively search out and arrest every Palestinian terrorist freed as part of the deal with Hamas.
“We need to notify Hamas the moment we return to war. We need to rearrest all the terrorists whom we released,” he said.
“In Gaza, there will be no Hamas, there will be no enemies, and there will be no threat to Israel. It will again be part of the State of Israel, since it is our land and that is the only way to ensure the security of the State of Israel.”
Netanyahu presented a different approach, advocating increased economic pressure by striking Iran's overland supply routes.
A technocratic Palestinian government would gradually assume control of different parts of the Gaza Strip…
Hebrew media reported that mediators had reached a proposed agreement with Hamas outlining Gaza’s disarmament…
Pickaxe Mountain, buried 80 to 140 meters beneath a mountain near Natanz, is one of…
It requires local educational agencies to take action if they find that instruction or school-sponsored…
If Trump means to win the war against Iran and the Houthis to restore freedom…