\n<\/p>\n
Hamas condemns far-right Israeli Minister Bezalel Smotrich\u2019s remarks as \u2018an official call to exterminate\u2019 Palestinians.<\/em><\/p>\n Published On 28 Aug 2025<\/span>28 Aug 2025<\/span><\/p>\n Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for Israel to annex the Gaza Strip if Hamas refuses to disarm, the latest push by an Israeli official to forcibly displace Palestinians and take complete control of the coastal enclave.<\/p>\n During a news conference on Thursday, Smotrich said if Hamas does not agree to surrender, disarm and release Israeli captives, Israel should annex a section of Gaza each week for four weeks.<\/p>\n He said Palestinians would first be told to move south in Gaza, followed by Israel imposing a siege on the territory\u2019s north and centre regions, and ending with annexation.<\/p>\n \u201cThis can be achieved in three to four months,\u201d said Smotrich, describing the measures as part of a plan to \u201cwin in Gaza by the end of the year\u201d.<\/p>\n The far-right minister\u2019s annexation push comes as the Israeli army has advanced deeper into Gaza City in an effort to seize the city and forcibly displace about one million Palestinians living there.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s intensified attacks on Gaza City have been widely condemned, with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warning last week that the campaign would cause \u201cmassive death and destruction\u201d.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Gaza City and the surrounding areas continue to experience famine as Israel continues to block food, water and other humanitarian aid from entering the Strip.<\/p>\n \u201cFamine is no longer a looming possibility; it\u2019s a present-day catastrophe,\u201d Guterres said on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are dying of hunger. Families are being torn apart by displacement and despair. Pregnant women are facing unimaginable risks, and the systems that sustain life \u2013 food, water, healthcare \u2013 have been systematically dismantled.\u201d<\/p>\n Israel and its Western allies have long been pushing for Hamas to lay down its weapons, insisting that the Palestinian group cannot be involved in any future governance of Gaza.<\/p>\n Hamas rejected Smotrich\u2019s remarks on Thursday, saying they represent \u201can official call to exterminate our people\u201d as well as \u201can official admission of the use of starvation and siege against innocent civilians as a weapon\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cSmotrich\u2019s statement is not an isolated extremist opinion, but rather a declared government policy that has been implemented for nearly 23 months\u201d of Israel\u2019s war on Palestinians in the enclave, Hamas said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cThese statements expose the reality of the occupation to the world and confirm that what is happening in Gaza is not a \u2018military battle\u2019 but rather a project of genocide and mass displacement,\u201d the group added, urging the international community to hold Israeli leaders accountable.<\/p>\n During his news conference, Smotrich called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to adopt his annexation plan \u201cin full immediately\u201d.<\/p>\n Netanyahu did not comment publicly on Smotrich\u2019s remarks.\u00a0But the Israeli leader has alluded to a plan for Israel to \u201ctake control of all Gaza\u201d and send troops to reoccupy the entire enclave.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s military has for weeks been issuing forcible evacuation notices to Palestinians in so-called \u201ccombat zones\u201d to relocate to southern Gaza.<\/p>\n Smotrich, a major backer of Israel\u2019s settler movement who himself lives in an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank, has expressed support for re-establishing illegal settlements in the Gaza Strip that were dismantled in 2005.<\/p>\n He and other far-right members of Netanyahu\u2019s governing coalition also have voiced staunch opposition to efforts to reach a deal to end Israel\u2019s war on Gaza, threatening to topple the government if an agreement is reached.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hamas condemns far-right Israeli Minister Bezalel Smotrich\u2019s remarks as \u2018an official call to exterminate\u2019 Palestinians. Published On 28 Aug 202528 Aug 2025 Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for Israel to annex the Gaza Strip if Hamas refuses to disarm, the latest push by an Israeli official to forcibly displace Palestinians and take<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[11063,680,267,11065,1233,11064,1758,2164,150,11062,9202],"class_list":{"0":"post-18185","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-annexation","9":"tag-calls","10":"tag-conflict","11":"tag-disarm","12":"tag-gaza","13":"tag-hamas","14":"tag-israelpalestine","15":"tag-israels","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-phased","18":"tag-smotrich"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}