Israeli Hardline Minister Calls for Killing 30-40 Gazans Every Night
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, known for his radical views, has once again made controversial remarks. The Israeli hardline minister openly called for the killing of 30 to 40 Gazans every night.
The comments, as reported by the Jerusalem Post and Middle East Monitor on Tuesday (18/8/2026), were made by Ben-Gvir during a podcast interview on ‘October 8’ with Rom Braslavski, an Israeli soldier who was once held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
In the podcast, the two discussed Israel’s recovery efforts following the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, during which Ben-Gvir criticised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent reduction in the intensity of attacks on the Gaza Strip.
‘It is no secret that I do not agree with the Prime Minister,’ Ben-Gvir said.
‘In my view, we need to carry out targeted attacks in Gaza every night, eliminating 30 or 40 people — not only those who endanger us at that moment,’ Ben-Gvir said in the interview.
He said Israel should not limit its attacks only to parties that ‘pose a direct threat’ in the Gaza Strip.
‘There are people there who do not deserve to live. They should not live. They are not even human,’ said Ben-Gvir, who leads the far-right Jewish Power party.
The interview was broadcast on Saturday night (15/8), but Ben-Gvir’s comments only circulated widely on Sunday (16/8) and were quickly shared by Palestinian media.
In the same interview, Ben-Gvir also said that Palestinians who ‘might be considered uninvolved’ in the fighting in the Gaza Strip should not be exempted from Israeli attacks.
Specifically, Ben-Gvir referred to a Gazan woman who gave food to Braslavski while he was held hostage by Hamas. He called the Gazan woman a ‘terrorist in every way’ and said she ‘deserved to be shot in the head’.
Braslavski, who hosted the podcast interview with Ben-Gvir, was held hostage by Hamas from 7 October 2023 and was released as part of a prisoner-hostage exchange in October 2025.
In the interview, Ben-Gvir said he was proud to be feared in the Gaza Strip after Braslavski described the hatred and fear his captors had towards the Israeli minister.
‘I consider all of Gaza to be ours,’ Ben-Gvir said, while again calling for Israeli settlements throughout the Gaza Strip and encouraging Palestinians to emigrate from the territory.
‘Settlement building is not only in Gush Katif (the bloc of Jewish settlements evacuated by Israel in 2005), but throughout Gaza, encouraging as much emigration as possible, sending them to their countries, and for the terrorists, no emigration, nothing, just kill them one by one,’ he asserted.