From the Liveblog of
Sunday, October 19, 2025
Ben Gvir demands return to ‘full-scale fighting’ after terror operatives attack IDF troops in Gaza
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir publicly appeals to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resume military operations in the Gaza Strip after terror operatives launched an attack on Israeli forces in Rafah in an apparent violation of the ceasefire by Hamas.
“I call on the prime minister to order the IDF to renew full-scale fighting in the Strip at full strength,” the far right politician says in a statement.
“The false belief that Hamas will change its ways, or will even abide by the agreement it signed, are proving, unsurprisingly, to be dangerous to our security. This Nazi terrorist organization must be destroyed completely and the sooner the better.”
Ben Gvir’s statement comes only a day after he told Channel 12’s “Meet The Press” that he had given Netanyahu an unspecified deadline to dismantle Hamas and enact the death penalty for terrorists. He threatened that if his conditions were not met, his far-right Otzma Yehudit party would quit the government.
Ben Gvir recently threatened to bolt if Hamas “continues to exist” after the hostages are freed, stating that his party would not be a part of “a national defeat” and “eternal disgrace.”
The Times of Israel Community.