Ben-Gvir calls for nightly Gaza killings, widening Netanyahu rift

Itamar Ben-Gvir called for nightly killings in Gaza during a podcast appearance. The remarks have sharpened tensions over ceasefire policy and his rising pre-election clout.

In Short

• The remarks surfaced from a podcast with former hostage Rom Braslavski
• Palestinian media widely circulated the clip after domestic outlets stayed muted
• Ben-Gvir cannot direct military strikes but wields major security powers

Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has publicly called for killing "30 to 40" people in Gaza every night, in remarks made during a podcast appearance that surfaced on Sunday and were quickly circulated by Palestinian media. The comments came as he criticised what he described as a recent reduction in Israeli strikes on Gaza and openly disagreed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The remarks have renewed attention on Ben-Gvir's growing influence in Israeli politics ahead of the country's October 27 elections. Similar statements by him and other Israeli officials have previously been widely condemned, and have been presented at the UN's world court as evidence of genocidal intent, an accusation Israel denies.

Ben-Gvir made the statement while speaking to former Gaza-held hostage Rom Braslavski on Braslavski's podcast. As the two discussed Israel's recovery from the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, Ben-Gvir criticised Israel's recent drawdown of strikes in Gaza.

"It's no secret, I disagree with the prime minister," he said. "I think targeted assassinations should be carried out in Gaza, taking down 30 to 40 every night. Not just those who pose an immediate threat - there are people there who are not worthy of life. They shouldn't live. They're not even people."

Israeli domestic media has made little mention of the statement, even as once-fringe views such as Ben-Gvir's appear to be gaining ground before the election. Figures like him have become more popular among Israelis since Hamas' 2023 attack, in which militants killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostage. Many hostages have since described long-term starvation, physical and psychological abuse and, in some cases, sexual abuse.

Ben-Gvir does not control the military and cannot order strikes on Gaza. But after decades on Israel's far-right fringe, he is now among the country's most influential politicians. He oversees key parts of Israel's security system, including the prison service, where thousands of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank are being held, and the national police force. He has previously said he reduced food rations for Palestinian prisoners, and Israel's top court ruled in 2025 that the prison service under him was denying Palestinians a minimum subsistence diet.

Until recently, Israel was carrying out strikes in Gaza almost daily. According to Gaza's Health Ministry, those attacks have killed more than 1,250 people since an October truce deal came into effect. Israel's military has said the strikes were aimed at Hamas militants, but appeared to scale them back in what the report described as a quiet concession to US President Donald Trump after Netanyahu rejected the president's latest effort to advance the truce. Israeli media reported last week that authority to carry out strikes has now been restricted to the army's chief of staff, angering right-wing lawmakers such as Ben-Gvir.

In the same recorded appearance, Ben-Gvir also backed the mass emigration of Palestinians from Gaza and the resettlement of the territory by Israel, a proposal that international lawyers say could amount to ethnic cleansing. Twenty years ago, Israel withdrew from Gaza, dismantling a cluster of 21 Jewish settlements known as Gush Katif and pulling out its forces. "I see all of Gaza as ours," Ben-Gvir said in the interview. "Settlements not just in Gush Katif but throughout Gaza, encouraging as much emigration as possible, sending them to their countries, and for the terrorists, no emigration, nothing, just to kill them one by one."

Trump's latest proposal calls for Hamas to gradually give up its weapons while Israeli forces stop their attacks and begin withdrawing from Gaza. Hamas accepted the deal, but said handing over its heaviest weapons would have to be linked to the creation of a Palestinian state, something Israel's current government and most of its political class strongly reject. Netanyahu has said Israel will not withdraw from any of its positions in Gaza until Hamas is fully disarmed, leaving other parts of the ceasefire, including the deployment of international forces and reconstruction of the devastated territory, on hold. Ben-Gvir's remarks have now added to the tensions surrounding that process.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends