Ben Gvir says Netanyahu excluded him from call with cabinet members about increasing Gaza aid

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir says he was excluded from a phone call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior cabinet members earlier today in which it was decided that Israel would increase and improve the flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

He says that an official from the Prime Minister’s Office told him after the fact that the reason he was excluded from the call, reportedly along with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, was that the premier had not wanted to disturb him on Shabbat.

The ultranationalist lawmaker says he believes the real reason for his exclusion was his oft-vocalized opposition to sending humanitarian aid to Gaza in any capacity.

He says that by increasing aid to Gaza, Israel is “surrendering to Hamas’s false campaign” of famine and starvation across the Palestinian enclave, and is “endangering IDF soldiers.”

“The only way to win the war and return the hostages is to completely stop ‘humanitarian’ aid, occupy the entire Strip and encourage voluntary migration,” Ben Gvir says.

According to Ynet, the national security minister also told the PMO official that he knew Netanyahu “didn’t want to bring us into the conversation so that we wouldn’t be able to tell you what we think.

The outlet says he claimed that Hamas will “take advantage” of Israel’s decision to open humanitarian corridors that allow the UN to distribute aid safely across Gaza, and will operate within them.

“You didn’t include me in the conversation because you knew I was opposed,” he is said to have reiterated. “This is extremely serious.”