Israeli heritage minister Amichay Eliyahu calls for dropping nuclear bomb on Gaza

JERUSALEM, Nov 05 (SABAH): Israeli heritage minister Amichay Eliyahu found himself in hot waters after suggesting the use of a nuclear bomb on Gaza, adding that the government should treat own their hostages as collateral damage and bomb Gaza.

The heritage minister faced suspension from government meetings “until further notice” on Sunday, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office reacted to his comments.

Amichay Eliyahu, a member of Netanyahu’s ruling coalition and an ultranationalist politician, made these remarks during an interview on Israel’s Kol Barama radio. He expressed dissatisfaction with the scale of Israel’s response to the October 7 attacks by Hamas, even if it meant risking the lives of hostages in Gaza.

When asked whether he supported the idea of using “some kind of atomic bomb” in Gaza to “kill everyone,” Eliyahu responded, “That’s one option.”

Netanyahu’s office issued a statement, characterising Eliyahu’s comments as “disconnected from reality”.

In a follow-up question regarding the estimated 240 hostages in Gaza, Eliyahu asserted that “in war, we pay a price.”

Meanwhile US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Gazans “must not be forcibly displaced”, speaking on a surprise visit Sunday to the Israeli-occupied West Bank to meet Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas.

“The Secretary reaffirmed the United States´ commitment to the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance and resumption of essential services in Gaza and made clear that Palestinians must not be forcibly displaced,” said a summary of the meeting released by the US State Department.

Mahmud Abbas condemned what he labelled a “genocide” in comments to Blinken, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

“I have no words to describe the genocide and destruction suffered by our Palestinian people in Gaza at the hands of Israel´s war machine, with no regard for the principles of international law,” Abbas was quoted as saying.