Israeli Minister suspended for suggesting nuclear bomb on Gaza as an ‘option’
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Jerusalem: Israeli Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu was suspended from government meetings 'until further notice' on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said, after suggesting in an interview that 'one of the possible options' for Israel was to drop a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip.
Eliyahu, an ultranationalist politician and a member of the Otzma Yehudit party, also told Israel's Kol Barama radio he was not entirely satisfied with the scale of Israel's retaliation in the Palestinian territory after Hamas fighters carried out a deadly attack on October 7 inside southern Israel.
When the interviewer asked whether the Israeli minister advocated dropping "some kind of atomic bomb" on the Gaza Strip 'to kill everyone', Eliyahu replied: 'That's one option'.
As part of damage control, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office quickly reacted to the minister's remarks, issuing a statement in which it described them as 'disconnected from reality,' adding that Israel was trying to spare 'non-combatants' in Gaza.
'Israel and the IDF are operating in accordance with the highest standards of international law to avoid harming innocents. We will continue to do so until our victory,' the Prime Minister of Israel wrote on X.
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Israel's opposition leader and former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid also lambasted Eliyahu, calling for the sacking of the 'irresponsible minister'.
Calling Gaza residents 'Nazis', Eliyahu also objected to the passage of humanitarian aid to the Strip, The Times of Israel reported. He said that there is 'no such thing' as unassociated civilians in the Gaza Strip, indicating that everyone residing in the strife-torn region is in one or another connected with Hamas.
The far-right minister also supported retaking the Gaza Strip and restoring the settlements there. When asked about what would happen to the Palestinians should Gaza come to Israel, Eliyahu said that the 'monsters in Gaza' could move to 'Ireland or deserts' and should find a solution by themselves, The Times of Israel report added.
During his radio interview, Eliyahu also said that the northern Strip has no right to exist. He added that any individual who waves a Palestinian or Hamas flag should not live on the 'face of the earth' any more, The Times of Israel reported.
Israel's brutal military campaign in Gaza since October 7 has killed 9,488 people, most of them women and children, according to the Palestine Health Ministry.
Following the outcry, Eliyahu has now issued a clarification, saying that his remarks about the atomic bomb were 'metaphorical'.
Despite his damage control, Netanyahu has suspended the minister indefinitely from cabinet meetings, The Times of Israel reported. A cabinet meeting scheduled for today has been cancelled, with no alternative date set, the report added.
