Smotrich calls for Israel to run civil affairs in Gaza, stay there ‘for very long time’
Far-right minister says government readying ‘new approach to conquering, holding’ the Strip, warns aid will be cut to minimum permitted by international law when Trump takes office
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Wednesday called for Israel to take over “the entire civil management of the Gaza Strip,” and warned that humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the coastal enclave will be cut to the minimum required under humanitarian law when US President-elect Donald Trump takes office later this month.
“Yes, occupation, we don’t need to be afraid of this word,” Smotrich, who heads the far-right Religious Zionism party, said during a Facebook live broadcast.
He repeatedly threatened during the livestream that Israel was set “to open the gates of hell on Hamas,” predicting Trump would give Jerusalem the military and diplomatic backing to do so.
“We’re readying for a new approach to conquering the Gaza Strip, of holding onto it, of dividing it into regional brigades,” he said, calling for Israel to remain in the territory “for a very long time.”
Smotrich, a settlement advocate who is also a minister in the Defense Ministry, denounced the ongoing negotiations to reach a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas, arguing Israel would be in a stronger position in talks once Trump is back in the White House.
“The military pressure will be stronger — not entering and exiting but capturing territory,” he said.
Smotrich also reiterated his opposition to establishing a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 Hamas onslaught, claiming that the justice system cannot be trusted.
“I don’t have a shred of trust in the Israeli justice system, which has completely lost its judgment,” he said in a separate statement, pointing to the ongoing case of the theft and leak of classified IDF intelligence material linked to the Prime Minister’s Office as “an example.”
“I am not prepared to abandon this important task [of investigating October 7] to a system I have no faith in,” he added. “I am in favor of an independent investigative committee that will turn over every stone.”
