JERUSALEM – An Israeli politician known for his extreme views, part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s alliance, stirred controversy by advocating the nightly killing of “30 to 40” individuals in Gaza. These remarks were revealed Sunday and rapidly disseminated by Palestinian news outlets.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir expressed these views during a conversation with Rom Braslavski, a former hostage in Gaza, on Braslavski’s podcast. Their dialogue centered around Israel’s response to the Hamas attack dated October 7, 2023, and Ben-Gvir voiced strong disapproval of Israel’s reduction in strikes on Gaza.
“I openly disagree with the prime minister,” Ben-Gvir declared. “I advocate for targeted assassinations in Gaza, taking down 30 to 40 people nightly. It shouldn’t only be about those posing immediate threats — some people there are undeserving of life. They shouldn’t exist at all. They’re not human.”
Historically, Ben-Gvir and other Israeli officials have faced significant backlash for similar rhetoric. Such statements have often been submitted to the UN world court as allegations of genocidal intentions. Nevertheless, Israel firmly refutes any claims of genocide within Gaza.
Israeli media has given limited attention to these remarks, underlining how once-marginal viewpoints like those of Ben-Gvir are gaining traction ahead of the Israeli elections on October 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.
Ben-Gvir oversees Israel’s police force and prisons
Ben-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.
Ben-Gvir criticizes drawdown of Israeli strikes in Gaza
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, which says the strikes have targeted Hamas militants, appeared to ease off on the attacks in a quiet concession to U.S. President Donald Trump after Netanyahu rejected the 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.
Ben Gvir advocates mass emigration, expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza
In 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,” 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.”
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.
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