Israeli minister threatens to seize entire Gaza if Hamas refuses to disarm
Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich warned that Hamas would be forced to surrender all its weapons, threatening a full-scale occupation of the Gaza Strip if the Palestinian resistance movement refuses to disarm.
“We estimate that in the coming days, Hamas will be given an ultimatum to disarm and completely demilitarize Gaza,” Smotrich said in an interview with Israeli broadcaster Kan on Monday.
“If it does not comply with it, the IDF (Israeli occupation forces) will have international legitimacy and American backing to do it itself, and the IDF (Israeli occupation forces) is already preparing for this and is making plans,” Smotrich said, who is a member of the regime’s “security cabinet” which is charged with approving large-scale military offensives.
When asked how the military would carry out such an offensive, he added, “There are two or three alternatives right now that we are examining.”
Khaled Meshaal, a former Hamas chief and current head of the group’s diaspora office, stressed that attempts to criminalize armed resistance and disarm Palestinian factions are “unacceptable” under ongoing Israeli occupation.
“As long as there is occupation, there is resistance. Resistance is a right of people under occupation ... something nations take pride in,” he added.
Smotrich's remarks come as Israeli forces have already expanded the so-called “yellow line,” the boundary Israel claimed under the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire last October, seizing additional territory and forcing Palestinians into increasingly confined areas of the besieged strip.
A ceasefire agreement intended to end the genocide that began on October 8, 2023, and lasted for two years, has repeatedly been violated by Israel, which continues strikes and attacks across Gaza.
According to Gaza authorities, Israeli forces have committed hundreds of breaches of the ceasefire since it took effect on October 10 of last year. At least 615 Palestinians have been killed and 1,651 others injured during this period.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, Israel’s genocidal war has killed over 72,073 Palestinians and left more than 171,749 injured.
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