From the Liveblog of
Monday, January 19, 2026
Smotrich calls on Netanyahu to take over Gaza, rebuild settlements in Strip
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. 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"
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calls to correct the “sin” of the 2005 disengagement from Gaza, declaring during a speech marking the newly recognized Yatziv settlement in the West Bank that Israel cannot “wait another 20 years” to take control of the coastal Palestinian territory.
Boasting that the current government had “correct[ed] the sin of expulsion” from a number of West Bank settlements, which took place concurrently with the withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, the far-right minister argues that “there is one sin that we have not yet been able to correct, even when it seemed that we had the opportunity and the duty to do so – the expulsion from Gush Katif.”
“Wasn’t the most terrible massacre that has befallen the Jewish people since the terrible Holocaust enough” to make Israel’s leadership understand what must be done, Smotrich asks.
The minister insists that Israel did not pay a price in blood over the past two years of war “so that the Turks and Qataris, who still sponsor Hamas today and are no different from it in their desire to destroy the State of Israel, can sit on our fence.”
“Erdogan is Sinwar. Qatar is Hamas. There is no difference,” he declares, referencing the United States’ decision to include Qatari and Turkish representatives on the executive committee of the Board of Peace that will oversee the postwar management of Gaza.
Appealing to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take over Gaza, Smotrich says that “it is either us or them. Either full Israeli control, the destruction of Hamas and the continued suppression of terrorism over time, encouraging the enemy’s emigration abroad and permanent Israeli settlement or, God forbid, squandering the efforts and costs of the war and waiting for the next round.”
While US President Donald Trump deserves Israeli gratitude for his part in returning the hostages, “his plan is bad for the State of Israel” and must be shelved, Smotrich continues, insisting that “Gaza is ours and its future will affect our future more than anyone else’s” and that, as such, Jerusalem must “take responsibility for what is happening there” and “impose military rule.”
This includes dismantling Civil-Military Coordination Center for Gaza set up by the United States in Kiryat Gat and remove from there representatives of “countries like Egypt and Britain that are hostile to Israel and undermine its security.” It is unclear why he singled out the United Kingdom for criticism.
Instead, Israel should issue an ultimatum to Hamas demanding its disarmament and exile followed by “a full-force assault on Gaza, to destroy Hamas militarily and civilly, to open the Rafah crossing with or without Egyptian consent, and to allow the residents of Gaza to leave it and seek their future elsewhere, where they will not endanger the future of our children.”
The Times of Israel Community.