“Israeli” Finance Minister Calls for Utter Destruction of Gaza’s Rafah

By Staff, Agencies

“Israeli” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for the “utter destruction” of Rafah and other cities in Gaza while slamming “Israel’s” ongoing hostage negotiations with Palestinian Hamas movement.

“No half jobs. Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat, total and utter destruction,” Smotrich said, referring to the two cities in Gaza and the Nuseirat refugee camp.

Smotrich’s remarks underscore the pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces among members of his governing coalition to press ahead with an invasion into Rafah, the southern Gaza border city where over one million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.

Smotrich lashed out at “Israel’s” government for pursuing truce talks with Hamas that could pause the fighting in return for the exchange of captives held in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in “Israeli” jails.

“We are negotiating with the ones that shouldn’t have existed for a long time,” he said.

“We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there with or without a deal," Netanyahu told families of some of the captives still being held in Gaza, his office said.

On Tuesday, “Israel's” far-right “National Security” Minister Itamar Ben Gvir threatened to bring down the government if Netanyahu agreed to a “reckless” captive deal and delayed an attack on Rafah.