Smotrich: Israel should embrace Gaza ‘occupation’; IDF won’t leave even for hostages

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Monday that Israel will not withdraw from Gaza even if there is another hostage deal, telling Israelis to embrace the word “occupation,” after the cabinet approved an expansion of the fighting that was said to include “conquering” the Strip.

The cabinet’s decision and Smotrich’s statement sparked outrage from the opposition and the families of hostages, who accused the government of prioritizing territorial gains over the lives of the captives still held in Gaza.

“We are finally going to occupy the Gaza Strip. We will stop being afraid of the word ‘occupation,'” Smotrich told Channel 12 journalist Amit Segal during a conference organized by the right-wing Besheva newspaper.

“We are finally taking control of all humanitarian aid, so that it does not become supplies for Hamas. We are separating Hamas from the population, cleansing the Strip, bringing back the hostages — and defeating Hamas,” he said, adding that once the new offensive in Gaza begins there will be “no retreat from the territories we have conquered, not even in exchange for hostages.”

“The only way to release the hostages is to subdue Hamas. Any retreat will bring about the next October 7,” he said.

“Once as we occupy and stay [in Gaza] we can talk about sovereignty [there]. But I did not demand that this be included among the goals of the war. First, we will defeat Hamas and prevent it from existing,” Smotrich said.

The goal of the renewed Israeli offensive against Hamas is “the complete occupation of the Strip,” Culture Minister Miki Zohar told national broadcaster Kan. “Such a move endangers those who remain in captivity,” the Likud politician acknowledged. “But there is no choice left.”

Zohar, who unlike Smotrich is not a member of the key security cabinet, argued that the war has taken over a year and a half “because we wanted to bring as many hostages home as possible,” adding that the renewed offensive could bring Hamas to the table in a serious way. “Hamas may soon realize that it has no choice but to return [the hostages] and exile itself from Gaza,” he said.

The plan that the cabinet approved on Sunday also involved overhauling the distribution of humanitarian aid in the Strip, in a bid to prevent Hamas from controlling the goods. The proposal, which has been vaguely outlined by officials, was condemned by the terror group, and drew criticism from various international organs.

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum on Monday accused the government of “choosing territory over hostages,” and noted that “this is against the will of over 70 percent of the people.”

Polls have consistently shown that a large majority of the Israeli public favors a deal that would see all the hostages held in Gaza released, even if it means ending the war.

“The plan approved by the cabinet deserves the name ‘Smotrich-Netanyahu Plan’ for giving up on the hostages and its abandonment of national and security resilience,” the forum said.

Throughout the fighting, Smotrich and others on the far right have urged using the war as an opportunity to reestablish Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip, which existed until a unilateral withdrawal in 2005.

At the Knesset on Monday, Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, lashed out at coalition lawmakers, shouting: “I want to know what the hell you’re thinking, doing this,” and called on reservists not to show up to duty.

“The cabinet decided to send heroic soldiers to an operation that will result in the murder of hostages in captivity, and the loss of soldiers,” she added. “You think the nation will take this in silence?”

Zangauker noted the call-up of tens of thousands of reserve soldiers in recent days, in advance of the expanded operation. “Yesterday a mother of soldiers who were called up to reserves asked me what she should say to them. How should I have answered her?”

Likud MK Simcha Rothman responded, “I would tell her that of course they should go. I recommend we be careful here about calls for refusal.”

The comment infuriated Zangauker, who responded, “I’m not calling for refusal! Don’t put words in my mouth, I said not to show up to reserves for moral and ethical reasons!” She also noted that her daughter serves in the reserves.

עינב צנגאוקר מול רוטמן קראה בועדת חוקה לא להתייצב למילואים מטעמים מוסריים ויצאה מהדיון: "אתה לא תדביק לי סרבנות, מתן שירת בצבא, נטלי חיילת בצבא ההגנה לישראל" pic.twitter.com/y0bejC6A7p

— לירי בורק שביט (@lirishavit) May 5, 2025

Hannah Cohen, the aunt of slain hostage Inbar Haiman, whose remains are still held by Hamas, said: “People say ‘we’ll get them back in coffins,’ and I tell them that even in coffins we won’t get them back. In this war, coffins are a privilege. People wish for me the good fortune to bury [Inbar], because they know it won’t necessarily be possible.”

Ora Rubenstein, the aunt of hostage Bar Kuperstein, also responded to the decision to expand the fighting in Gaza, in an interview Monday with the Ynet news site.

“I have a son and a husband who have been in the reserves more than 500 days and they received a call-up order,” she said. “How do I send them off to reserves? In the past I told them, ‘Go free Bar and the rest of the hostages.’ Today, I can’t say that to them.”

“I can’t tell them that, because I don’t believe — after a year and seven months — that this government intends to free the hostages. Every day we receive a new slap in the face.”

Yair Golan: Government sacrificing lives for political survival

The Democrats party chairman Yair Golan wrote on X on Sunday night: “The cabinet decided tonight to expand the military operation in the Strip — not in order to protect the security of Israel, but in order to save Netanyahu and his government of extremists.”

“This is not another temporary operation, but rather a process that authorizes permanent presence in the territory, as part of the realization of the fantasy of [far-right National Security Minister] Ben Gvir and [Finance Minister] Smotrich,” he added.

“Occupying the Strip, in practice, for the sake of ‘the survival of the government’ will cost us in blood – in the lives of hostages, in the lives of soldiers, in exhaustion, and essentially: in losing our way,” Golan continued.

“While the government of Israel advances a scandalous draft evasion law, it enlists, without shame, tens of thousands of reserve fighters who have already served hundreds of days since the start of the war — and for what? For a process with no security purpose that doesn’t hasten the freeing of the hostages — to the contrary.

“The IDF chief of staff must abide by an iron principle: The IDF is the Israel Defense Forces — it must defend the citizens of Israel, not serve political goals.

“Israel needs decision-making and a leadership that is worthy and responsible and will return the hostages home without sacrificing human lives for its own sake,” he said.

Liberman: PM Acting like WWII allies who let Jews die

Avigdor Liberman, chairman of the hawkish Yisrael Beytenu party, charged Monday that Netanyahu is acting like the allies in World War II who knew about the Nazi death camps but made rescuing the Jews a lower priority than military victory.

Addressing reporters ahead of his party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Liberman asserted that “this is a war not for security, but for control,” adding that the government would “do anything” to maintain power, “even at the expense of the lives of hostages and soldiers.”

This is also the belief of most of the IDF General Staff, he claimed.

The government is “not capable of destroying Hamas,” Liberman continued, calling the return of the hostages a prerequisite for military victory and alleging that the government’s current strategy was motivated by “political calculations.”

Lazar Berman and agencies contributed to this report.