Israel minister calls for military rule in Gaza, expelling UNRWA

Israel’s hardline Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich yesterday said that his Religious Zionist Party would not agree to halting the war on Gaza and called for Israeli military rule of the enclave after the war and the expulsion of UNRWA from there, Anadolu news agency reported.

Smotrich made the statement during a meeting with the party at the Knesset, according to Channel 12.

He said halting the war in Gaza for two months would mean losing the Israeli army’s achievements there and would allow Hamas to restore its rule.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must withdraw from the sessions of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, especially since there are several countries that want to receive the residents of the Gaza Strip,” Smotrich said.

His comments came in reaction to reports in the Israeli media that Tel Aviv and Hamas are close to reaching a ceasefire deal under which would include a prisoner swap.

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“There will be Israeli military rule in Gaza because it’s agreed upon by all of us,” Smotrich said in an interview with Channel 12 on Saturday.

He also spoke out against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), saying it must be kicked out of Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Israel has alleged that some of the agency’s employees were involved in the 7 October infiltration of Israel by Palestinian resistance fighters during which more than 240 Israelis and foreign nationals were taken as prisoners of war and held in Gaza.

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