From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, October 28, 2025
Far-right ministers call on PM to destroy Hamas over ceasefire violations
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"
Far-right ministers call for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to act to ensure Hamas is destroyed, after the terror group appeared to hand over additional remains of a previously returned hostage, rather than the body of an additional captive.
“The fact that Hamas continues to play games and does not immediately transfer all the bodies of our fallen, is in itself evidence that the terror organization is still standing,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir declares.
“Now we don’t need to ‘extract a price from Hamas’ for the violations. We need to exact from it its very existence, and destroy it completely, once and for all — in accordance with the central goal defined for the War of Revival,” he says, adding: “Mr. Prime Minister, enough hesitation. Give the order!”
Writing to Netanyahu, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich demands an urgent meeting of the security cabinet to discuss “forceful responses” to Hamas’s violations of the first phase of the ceasefire, and continued action toward the terror group’s destruction.
“Against the backdrop of Hamas’s repeated violations of the ceasefire terms and the first stage of President Trump’s plan, and against the backdrop of the lack of progress in its dismantling and demilitarization of Gaza, I request that you urgently convene the security cabinet today for a discussion in order to formulate a package of forceful and determined responses, and to ensure our adherence to the central objective of the war: the destruction of Hamas and the removal of the threat emanating from Gaza toward the citizens of Israel,” Smotrich writes.
“Hamas cannot be allowed to taunt the citizens of Israel and cruelly play with the feelings of the families of the fallen hostages,” he writes.
The Times of Israel Community.