By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

“It is possible to create a situation where Gaza’s population will be reduced to half its current size in two years,” the Israeli minister said.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called again on Monday for the occupation of Gaza and reducing its Palestinian population by half within two years, Israeli media reported.

 “We can occupy Gaza and thin the population by half within two years,” he was quoted as saying by the Israeli newspaper The Times of Israel.

Speaking at a conference hosted by the Yesha Council, which represents illegal Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, Smotrich made remarks instigating genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“It is possible to create a situation where Gaza’s population will be reduced to half its current size in two years,” the Israeli minister reportedly said.

Smotrich’s proposal reportedly relies on a plan to render Gaza uninhabitable, forcing Palestinians in the besieged Strip to accept financial incentives to leave. 

“It won’t cost too much money,” he said, adding that “even if it does, we should not be afraid to pay for it.”

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Moreover, Smotrich suggested that “voluntary migration” could serve as a “model” for implementing similar strategies in the West Bank, The Times of Israel reported.

This is not the first time Smotrich has made statements instigating genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and Jerusalem. 

On November 11, Smotrich stated that 2025 would mark the year to fully annex the West Bank and eliminate the possibility of a Palestinian state, emphasizing that the election of US President-elect Donald Trump would aid in achieving this goal.

“The year 2025 will, with God’s help, be the year of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria (West Bank),” Smotrich declared before a meeting of his Religious Zionism Party at the Israeli parliament (Knesset).

“The only way to remove the danger of a Palestinian terror state from the agenda is to apply Israeli sovereignty to Jewish settlement in the entire Judea and Samaria,” he added, according to The Times of Israel.

Smotrich revealed that he has instructed the Israeli Settlement Directorate in the Defense Ministry and the Civil Administration to prepare for this move, asserting that there is broad consensus across Israel’s political spectrum against the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Last month, Smotrich called for the full annexation of the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, advocating for the establishment of illegal Israeli settlements deep within Palestinian territories and the expulsion of Palestinian nationalists, as reported by the Middle East Monitor (MEMO).

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Ongoing Genocide

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza. 

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7. 

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 44,235 Palestinians have been killed, and 104,638 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.

Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip. 

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Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’. 

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children. 

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety. 

(The Palestine Chronicle)