Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said today that the army was ready to “finish the job in Gaza” and to liberate the Palestinian territory from its two million population, reported Agence France-Presse, quoted by BTA.
The minister, who is no stranger to such statements, responded to a political opponent in the middle of the election campaign for the parliamentary elections in Israel at the end of October.
His opponent mocked the authorities, who announced yesterday that a brigade commander of the Palestinian group “Hamas” was killed in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
“Three years of war, five divisions that fought in Gaza, and there is still a commander and a brigade (of “Hamas”) in Rafah?”, said Ofer Winter, a candidate for a new right-wing party.
Israel has already “liberated Rafah and 70 percent of Gaza from its inhabitants” since the beginning of the Israeli offensive, which began after the unprecedented attack by “Hamas” on October 7, 2023, Katz replied.
The minister said that the ceasefire agreement, negotiated with US mediation in October 2025, is of “huge importance for all Israelis”, as it allowed the return of all hostages held in the Gaza Strip and is a sign of “commitment” Washington to disarm the Islamist movement that controls the Palestinian territory.
But "we all realized that this would not happen and the army is ready, when the order is given, to eliminate "Hamas", to finish the job so that we can implement the migration plan," Katz said.
Earlier this month, he said that Israel was preparing to liberate Gaza from its population, but the authorities were waiting for permission from the United States, which, he said, first wanted to decide where to send two million Palestinians.
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, rejected any plans to "relocate people from Gaza against their will".
Katz called the plan voluntary and pointed out that many Palestinians want to leave the territory.
Almost the entire population of Gaza is displaced within the enclave devastated by the war.