Israel’s Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir has called for the Israeli army to carry out targeted assassinations in Gaza every night, arguing it should be “taking down 30 to 40 every night”.
The remarks surfaced on August 16 in the first episode of a podcast hosted by Rom Braslavski, a former hostage held in Gaza, and were reported by the Associated Press. Ben-Gvir said the killings should not be confined to those posing an immediate threat, describing people in the enclave as unworthy of life and not even human.
The minister said he disagreed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the decision to scale back military operations. Israel has reduced its strikes under United States pressure to advance President Donald Trump’s peace plan, which would see Hamas surrender its weapons in stages as Israeli forces withdraw.
Ben-Gvir also called for Jewish settlements to be built throughout Gaza and for as much Palestinian emigration as possible, saying that those he described as terrorists should instead be killed one by one. Israel dismantled 21 settlements in the Gush Katif bloc when it withdrew from the territory in 2005.
He has no authority over the military and cannot order strikes, though he sits on the security cabinet and runs the police and prison services. Israeli media reported this month that authorisation for strikes had been restricted to the army chief of staff.
The European Union has repeatedly failed to act against the minister. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told reporters in Luxembourg on June 15 that member states lacked the unanimity sanctions require, weeks after Italy and Spain formally demanded punitive measures over his treatment of detained flotilla activists.
Spain, France, Ireland, Poland, the Netherlands and Belgium have each banned Ben-Gvir from their territory, while prosecutors in Italy and France have opened investigations into the flotilla detentions. Czechia has said it would block any measure against him at EU level.
A separate European Commission proposal to suspend the trade elements of the EU-Israel Association Agreement requires a qualified majority and has stalled against opposition from Germany and Italy. The bloc’s diplomatic service found last year that Israel had breached the agreement’s human rights clause.
Iranian deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi wrote on X on August 17 that the comments amounted to a nightly quota for killings, and said such admissions should be recorded and preserved for the day those responsible face trial.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 174,000 wounded since Israel launched its offensive after the attacks of October 7, 2023. A ceasefire has held since October 2025.
Israelis go to the polls on October 27.
