An ultranationalist Israeli minister was sanctioned on Sunday by the head of government Benjamin Netanyahu after affirming that using a nuclear bomb against the Gaza Strip in the war against Palestinian Hamas was “an option”. Israeli Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu said in a radio interview that he was not entirely satisfied with the scale of Israeli retaliation in the Palestinian territory following the deadly Hamas attack on the Israeli soil on October 7.
To the journalist who asked him in the light of his remarks if the solution would be in his eyes to drop “a kind of nuclear bomb on the entire Gaza Strip, raze it and kill everyone”, the minister replied: “that is an option. And when the journalist pointed out to him that “destroying the entire Gaza Strip” would also involve a price to be paid by Israel, he suggested that he was ready to accept that the lives of more than 240 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza is put in danger. “In a war, there is a price to pay. Why are the lives of the hostages (…) more important than those of our soldiers?”, he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office quickly reacted, denouncing statements “disconnected from reality” and adding that the Israeli army was trying to spare “non-combatants” in Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu also suspended the minister’s participation in government meetings “until further notice.”
Faced with the outcry caused by his remarks, the minister published a message on X (formerly Twitter) affirming that his “statement concerning atomic weapons is metaphorical”. “But we absolutely need a powerful and disproportionate response to terrorism,” he added. He also said in his message on X that Israel was committed “to doing everything possible to return the hostages safe and sound.”
“Irresponsible and cruel”
Amichay Eliyahu’s statements sparked an outraged reaction from the families of the hostages. The main collective representing them denounced “irresponsible and cruel” comments. “International law, human morality and common sense strictly prohibit the use of weapons of mass destruction,” the collective wrote in a statement, stressing that “the top priority of Israel’s actions in Gaza” must “be the release of the hostages.
Israel, which has never confirmed nor denied possessing atomic weapons, holds 90 nuclear warheads, according to the latest estimates from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. In his radio statements, Amichay Eliyahu also called for the return of Israeli settlers to the Gaza Strip, from where they were evacuated in 2005 during the unilateral withdrawal decided by the Israeli government of Ariel Sharon. “We have to impose a territorial price on them, which means returning to Gush Katif (former settlement bloc in the Gaza Strip). We have to start dislodging (Palestinians) from the Gaza Strip and making them emigrate to other country,” he said.
In Gaza, a Hamas spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, said in a statement that the Israeli minister’s statements reflected “the unprecedented terrorism that this government is carrying out against the Palestinian people.” “This government constitutes a danger for the region and for the world,” he added.
According to the latest report from Hamas on Saturday, 9,488 people, mainly civilians, were killed in the Gaza Strip, in the war triggered by the bloody attack of the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7 on Israeli soil. According to Israeli authorities, at least 1,400 people died on the Israeli side, the majority civilians killed on the same day of the attack by Hamas, a movement classified as terrorist by Israel but also the EU and the United States.