Israel should extend its border with Lebanon to the Litani River deep in the country's south.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Monday as Israeli troops bombed bridges and demolished residential buildings in the area in an escalating military offensive, Reuters reported.
Smotrich told Israeli radio that the military campaign in Lebanon "must end with a completely different reality, both with a solution to Hezbollah and with a change in Israel's borders."
"I say here categorically... in every room and in every discussion: the new Israeli border must be the Litani," Smotrich said.
The comments were the most categorical yet from a senior Israeli official about the seizure of Lebanese territory in a battle that Israel says is aimed at Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters.
Lebanon was drawn into the regional war on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel. Since then, Israel has ordered all residents to leave the area south of the Litani River while it carries out airstrikes on it, considering it a Hezbollah stronghold.
A new Israeli attack in Beirut on Monday killed a commander of the elite Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Israeli military said.
Lebanese authorities say Israeli air and ground attacks have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced more than a million, with Israel ordering residents to leave parts of the country.
A military official told Reuters on Monday that he could not comment on the politicians' remarks or the government's long-term plans, but that Israeli ground forces were limiting their attacks to areas close to the border, away from the Litani.
Smotrich, leader of a small far-right party in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet, often makes comments that go beyond official Israeli policy.
Netanyahu's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the remarks. Defense Minister Israel Katz hinted earlier this month at plans to seize land, saying Lebanon could face "loss of territory" if it does not disarm Hezbollah.
Smotrich's remarks resonated deeply in Lebanon, which is trying to emerge from a decades-long cycle of invasions and occupations by its neighbor. Israeli forces have launched repeated attacks on Lebanon since 1978 and occupied the south from 1982 to 2000.
A Lebanese official told Reuters that Beirut still relies on foreign powers to "exert sufficient pressure" on Israel to end the war, through a proposal by President Joseph Aoun for direct negotiations.
Smotrich also called on Israel to annex territory it now controls in the Gaza Strip, up to the ceasefire line with Hamas. A ceasefire signed in October left Israel in control of 53% of Gaza, where it has ordered residents to leave and bulldozed buildings.
The Israeli military says its troops in Lebanon are carrying out ground maneuvers and attacks on Hezbollah fighters and weapons depots aimed at protecting residents in northern Israel from Hezbollah, which has fired hundreds of rockets across the border since March 2.
The Lebanese government has banned Hezbollah's military activity and said it wanted to start direct talks with Israel.
Over the weekend, Israel hit a main bridge linking southern Lebanon to the rest of the country after ordering its military to destroy all crossings over the Litani River and accelerate the demolition of homes near the southern border.
International law generally prohibits the military from attacking civilian infrastructure, and the UN high commissioner for human rights has criticized Israel's actions in Lebanon, particularly its use of widespread evacuation orders.
The Israeli military says the evacuations are designed to protect civilians from danger when it attacks "Hezbollah".
On Monday, the organization issued evacuation orders for seven neighborhoods in the southern suburbs of Beirut and said it would continue to strike "Hezbollah" with "increasing force".
Israeli strikes hit two more Litani River crossings on Monday - a road near a main bridge hit on Sunday, and another small bridge on another stretch of the river.
Hana Amil, the mayor of the Christian border town of Rmeish, whose residents are refusing to leave their homes, told Reuters that movement was becoming increasingly difficult.
"Once or twice a week, a Lebanese army convoy accompanies us as we try to get basic goods from nearby areas," he said.
"We no longer have state electricity, we don't have water, and we have a shortage of diesel. If all the roads in the north are cut off, who knows what the future might bring us," said Amil.