RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesNational Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for killing "30 to 40" people in the Gaza Strip each night, apparently referring to Hamas operatives and other enemies of Israel, in comments made in an interview aired Saturday and shared widely by Arab media outlets Sunday.
The far-right lawmaker, who holds one of the most senior positions in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, made the statement while speaking to former Palestinian Islamic Jihad hostage Rom Braslavski, in the inaugural episode of the ex-captive's "October 8" podcast.
"It's no secret, I disagree with the prime minister," Ben Gvir said of Israel's scaled-back military operations against Hamas and other targets in Gaza amid an international push to move ahead with US President Donald Trump's peace plan.
"I think we should carry out targeted assassinations in Gaza, taking down 30 to 40 every night," he said.
"Not just those who pose an immediate threat. No, there are people there who are not worthy of life," he elaborated.
"They shouldn't live," Ben Gvir continued. "They're not even people."
"Insha'Allah… we will settle all of Gaza," said Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in an interview, who called for Israel to conduct nightly air strikes on the besieged enclave and "take down 30, 40, 50 terrorists". pic.twitter.com/0DgDrZcGyU
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) August 15, 2026
Ben Gvir is a member of the security cabinet, but he does not have authority over the military and cannot order strikes on Gaza. But, after operating for decades within Israel's far-right fringe, he is now among the most influential people in the country. He also has substantial control over key parts of Israel’s security apparatus, running the country’s prisons — where thousands of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank are incarcerated — as well as the national police force.
In the interview, Ben Gvir advocated for mass emigration of Palestinians from Gaza — a proposal that international lawyers say could amount to ethnic cleansing — and resettlement of the enclave by Israel.
"I see all of Gaza as ours," said Ben Gvir. "Settlements not just in Gush Katif [a bloc of settlements evacuated in 2005] 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."
In the same podcast, Braslavski, who was held by terrorists in Gaza for over two years, asked Ben Gvir if he could personally execute his captor.
"Let me be the one who hangs him," he asked the far-right minister.
Former Israeli captive Rom Braslavski asked Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to allow him to execute Palestinian prisoners.
Ben Gvir said he would work to fulfill the request, stating that executing Palestinian prisoners is one of his “greatest dreams”. pic.twitter.com/UgG65BhCLp
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) August 16, 2026
"With my own hands I will execute every terrorist in Israel," the former captive said. Ben Gvir responded that he would "turn the world upside-down to make that happen."
Israel earlier this year passed a law to establish a special military tribunal to try Palestinian terrorists accused of committing atrocities during the October 7, 2023, attacks. The tribunal will be able to charge the assailants with all relevant crimes, including genocide under the terms of Israel’s 1950 Law for the Prevention of Genocide, harming Israeli sovereignty, causing war, assisting an enemy during a time of war, and terror charges under Israel’s 2016 law for combating terrorism.
Those convicted of genocide charges would be liable for the death penalty.
While the death penalty formally exists in Israeli law, it has been carried out only once — the 1962 execution of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.
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