JERUSALEM, Aug 29 — Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich yesterday urged the government to move forward with annexing parts of the Gaza Strip if Hamas refuses to disarm and surrender.
JERUSALEM, Aug 29 — Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich yesterday urged the government to move forward with annexing parts of the Gaza Strip if Hamas refuses to disarm and surrender.
The far-right minister, a vocal opponent of any deal with Hamas to end the nearly two-year conflict, unveiled what he described as a plan to “secure victory in Gaza by the end of the year” during a press conference in Jerusalem.
Smotrich’s proposal sets an ultimatum: Hamas must surrender, hand over its weapons, and release the hostages taken during its October 2023 attack that ignited the war. If it refuses, he suggested Israel annex one section of Gaza each week for four weeks, placing most of the territory under full Israeli control.
Under the plan, Palestinians would first be directed southward, followed by an Israeli siege on northern and central Gaza to eliminate remaining Hamas fighters, culminating in annexation. “This can be achieved within three to four months,” Smotrich said.
His remarks come as Israeli forces intensify their assault on Gaza City, the enclave’s largest urban centre, amid growing alarm over the worsening plight of Palestinian civilians. Most of Gaza’s more than two million residents have already been displaced at least once during the war.
Smotrich called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “to immediately adopt this plan in its entirety.” Hamas condemned the proposal, denouncing it as “a clear endorsement of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing against our people.”
The finance minister is among several far-right members of Israel’s ruling coalition advocating the re-establishment of settlements in Gaza, which Israel evacuated in 2005. A staunch supporter of the settler movement, Smotrich lives in a West Bank settlement and last week approved a major construction project in the E1 area east of Jerusalem—an initiative critics say would fracture the territorial continuity of any future Palestinian state.
Smotrich has openly declared the project’s purpose is to “bury the idea of a Palestinian state.” — AFP
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