Israeli minister says dropping 'nuclear bomb' on Gaza is an 'option'

Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu has said that dropping a “nuclear bomb” on Gaza is “an option,” according to local media.

Eliyahu, a minister from the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, said that “one of Israel’s options in the war in Gaza is to drop a nuclear bomb on the Strip,” daily Times of Israel reported.

Speaking in a radio interview, Eliyahu also “voices his objection to allowing any humanitarian aid into Gaza.”

“We wouldn’t hand the Nazis humanitarian aid,” the minister said, adding that “there is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza.”

The far-right minister also said that the Palestinian population “can go to Ireland or deserts, the monsters in Gaza should find a solution by themselves.”

He added: “Anyone waving a Palestinian or Hamas flag shouldn’t continue living on the face of the earth".

'Extremists in the government'

Meanwhile, opposition leader Yair Lapid called for Eliyahu’s dismissal over his remarks.

Lapid dubbed it as “a shocking and crazy statement by an irresponsible minister.”

“He harmed the families of the abductees, harmed Israeli society and harmed our international standing,” he said the social media platform X.

“The presence of the extremists in the government endangers us and the success of the war goals – defeating Hamas and returning all the kidnapped,” the opposition leader added.

He also stressed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “must fire him this morning.”

Hour after the statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suspended the heritage minister from government meetings indefinitely, the premier’s office said.