An Israeli minister on Sunday suggested dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza and was swiftly suspended from part of his role.
Amichai Eliyahu, Israel’s heritage minister, made the remark in a radio interview, in which he also said he believed “there are no non-combatants in Gaza,” Israel’s Haaretz news site reported.
Eliyahu is part of Israel’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party, itself part of the fragile coalition forming Israel’s government as it wages war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
When asked by the interview whether a nuclear weapon could be used on Gaza, Eliyahu responded: “That’s one way.”
Eliyahu also advocated for Israel to take control of the strip’s territory and expelling Palestinians, who he suggested could go “to Ireland or deserts,” per The Times of Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded within a few hours. His office released a statement that Eliyahu’s nuclear weapon comment was “not based in reality.”
It said Israel’s military was operating in “accordance with the highest standards of international law to avoid harming innocents” — a claim heavily disputed by observers and advocates in Gaza after the killing of over 3760 children , and thousands of women since October 8
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also criticized Eliyahu’s comments and noted that Eliyahu was not directly involved in carrying out the war.
“It’s a good thing that people like this are not in charge of Israel’s security,” Gallant said.
Netanyahu suspended Eliyahu from Cabinet meetings until further notice, the Associated Press reported. The outlet noted that the move had “no practical effect.”
Eliyahu later tried to walk back his comments, AP reported, saying: “Anyone reasonable would understand that the comment was metaphorical. But we definitely need to respond powerfully and disproportionately to terrorism.”
Following the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel that killed some 1,400 people, Israel has been bombarding Gaza with air strikes and executing a ground invasion that killed so thousands of Palestinians .
Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot reported open Sunday that 20,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza.
Commenting on Eliyahu’s suggestion one analyst said:
“A suggestion like this can only come from someone who can’t read a map. Nuking Gaza will spread radioactive fallout across Israel, Eliyahu must be crazy since Gaza is less than 10 miles wide “
How big is Gaza
The Gaza Strip is 41 kilometers (25 miles) long, from 6 to 12 km (3.7 to 7.5 mi) wide, and has a total area of 365 km2 (141 sq mi). With around 2 .3 million Palestinians, , Gaza has a high population density (comparable to that of Hong Kong) . The majority of Palestinians in Gaza, which contains eight refugee camps, are descendants of refugees who fled or were expelled from the area that became Israel after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Muslims make up most of Gaza’s population, with a Palestinian Christian minority. Gaza has an annual population growth rate of 1.99% (2023 est.) making it the 39th-highest in the world.
Ya Libnan / Newsweek/Insider
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