Ben-Gvir calls for killing '30 to 40' Palestinians nightly in Gaza, taped interview shows
Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir told a former Gaza hostage on a podcast that Israel should kill 30 to 40 people nightly in Gaza, criticising a recent reduction in strikes. Israeli domestic media have given the remarks little coverage ahead of October elections.
An extremist lawmaker in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition has publicly called for killing "30 to 40" people in Gaza every night. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir made the remarks during a podcast conversation with Rom Braslavski, a former hostage held by Hamas in Gaza, in comments that surfaced on Sunday and were widely shared by international media.
Discussing Israel's recovery from Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack, Ben-Gvir criticised a recent drawdown in Israeli strikes on Gaza, saying he disagreed with the prime minister. He argued that targeted killings should continue in Gaza at a rate of 30 to 40 per night, adding that this should not be limited to people posing an immediate threat, and described some Gazans as "not worthy of life."
Similar remarks from Ben-Gvir and other Israeli officials have previously drawn wide condemnation and have been submitted to the UN's top court as evidence of genocidal intent. Israel denies committing genocide in Gaza, where its military campaign has killed more than 100,000 Palestinians over two years, according to medical sources. Israeli domestic outlets have given the latest comments little attention, reflecting the growing mainstream traction of once-fringe positions like Ben-Gvir's ahead of elections scheduled for 27 October.
Ben-Gvir, who is barred from entering more than ten countries including France, Belgium, Spain, the UK, Canada and Australia, has no formal authority over military operations, but he controls major parts of Israel's security apparatus, including the prison system and national police. He has previously boasted about cutting food rations for Palestinian prisoners, and Israel's top court ruled in 2025 that the prison service under his oversight was denying detainees a minimum subsistence diet.
Until recently, Israel struck Gaza almost daily, with attacks killing more than 1,250 people since an October truce took hold, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The military appears to have quietly scaled back strikes as a concession to US President Donald Trump, after Netanyahu rejected his latest push to advance the truce. In the same interview, Ben-Gvir also called for mass emigration of Palestinians from Gaza and for Israeli resettlement of the territory, a proposal international lawyers say could amount to ethnic cleansing.
