The Israeli minister said that Gaza must be destroyed for Zionist reasons

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's finance minister, has called for the eradication of Gaza and its "Nazi" population and the complete control of the land. Read the full article on RT.com.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said that Gaza must be completely destroyed, describing its residents as "Nazis" and calling on Israel to take all of the territory for "Zionist and security" reasons.

Speaking at a public event on Monday, the leader of the Religious Zionist Party defended his previous endorsement of calling for the destruction of Hawara, a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank. He claimed that critics had misrepresented his remarks as advocating the killing of women and children.

"Yes, we have to destroy Gaza, for example," Smotrich said. God forbid, let's not commit genocide."

He described Gaza as a "terrorist entity with 1.8 million Nazis" trained for generations to hate Israel and claimed they were capable of slaughter, rape and murder of children. Such a creature "shouldn't exist," he said, adding that the same applies to Hawara.

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Smotrich further demanded Israel's full ownership of this region. "I don't want Gush Katif. I want all of Gaza," he said, referring to the evacuation of Israeli settlements in 2005. I want Gaza to be ours.

Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gower, another coalition minister, have repeatedly supported Israel's resettlement in Gaza. Last month, Ben-Gvir presented a proposal to move more residents out of the country over seven years under a law he labels "voluntary migration," despite Palestinians' opposition to leaving.

Smotrich, a West Bank settler who also oversees civilian affairs in the occupied territories, has supported settlement expansion aimed at preventing the creation of a Palestinian state. In July, he announced more than $400 million for 34 new settlements. East Jerusalem's E1 project has faced international condemnation for threatening to break up the future state of Palestine.

This expansion has been accompanied by the intensification of the settlers' violence. UN figures cited in July showed that at least 117 Palestinian communities have been fully or partially displaced by settler attacks.

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The territorial rhetoric has gone beyond Gaza and the West Bank. Netanyahu has expressed support for a "Greater Israel" vision, while Mike Huckabee, the US envoy to Israel, told Tucker Carlson in February that "it would be good if everyone accepted it" when asked about Jewish claims in the Bible that stretches from the Nile to the Euphrates.

A UN commission concluded last year that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, while the International Criminal Court issued separate verdicts against Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Israel has denied these accusations.

Israel launched its attack on Gaza after Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, which left around 1,200 dead. Israelis, mostly civilians. More than 74,000 Palestinians, including at least 21,000 children, have been killed in Gaza since then, according to local health officials.