An Israeli politician has publicly advocated for killing “30 to 40” people in Gaza every night.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the minister of national security in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, made the comment while speaking on the first episode the podcast The 8 October.
The podcast is hosted by Rom Braslavski, a survivor of the October 7, 2023 Nova Music Festival attack who spent two years as a Hamas hostage.
Mr Ben-Gvir criticised Israel’s recent decrease in strikes on Gaza and said he disagrees with Mr Netanyahu’s approach.
“I think targeted assassinations should be carried out in Gaza, taking down 30 to 40 every night,” he said.
“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.”
Israel’s domestic media has made scarce mention of the statement.
Politicians like Mr Ben-Gvir have become more popular among Israelis since Hamas’ brutal attack in 2023, when the militants killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostage.
Many hostages have recounted long-term starvation, physical and psychological abuse and, in some cases, sexual abuse.
Mr Ben-Gvir has operated for decades within Israel's far-right fringe, but is now one of the most influential people in the country.
He has substantial control over key parts of Israel’s security apparatus and runs the country’s prisons – where thousands of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank are incarcerated – as well as the national police force.
He has previously boasted of lessening food rations for Palestinian prisoners.
Israel’s top court ruled in 2025 that the prison service under Mr Ben-Gvir was depriving Palestinians of a minimum subsistence diet.
In the same podcast, the politician advocated for mass emigration of Palestinians from Gaza — a proposal that international lawyers say could amount to ethnic cleansing — and resettlement of Gaza by Israel.
Twenty years ago, Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip, dismantling a block of 21 Jewish settlements known as “Gush Katif” and pulling out its forces.
“I see all of Gaza as ours,” said Mr Ben-Gvir 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.”
Mr Trump’s latest proposal involves Hamas gradually giving up its weapons while Israeli forces halt their attacks and begin withdrawing from Gaza.
Hamas accepted the deal, although the group linked the surrender of its heaviest weapons to the creation of a Palestinian state, something Israel’s current government and most of its political class adamantly reject.
Mr Netanyahu says that Israel will not retreat from any of its positions in Gaza until Hamas has been completely disarmed. The stance leaves other elements of the ceasefire, including the deployment of international forces and any reconstruction of the devastated territory, on hold.
Until recently, Israel was striking Gaza nearly every day, attacks that have killed over 1,250 people since an October truce deal came into effect, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Israel's military, which says the strikes have targeted Hamas militants, appeared to ease off on the attacks in a quiet concession to US President Donald Trump after Netanyahu rejected the president’s latest attempt to move the truce forward.
Israeli media last week reported that the authority for carrying out strikes has now been limited to the army’s chief of staff, raising the ire of right-wing politicians such as Mr Ben-Gvir.
