"We must conquer the entire Gaza Strip": Far-right Israeli minister visits Temple Mount
This is Netanyahu's response to the Hamas video in which he makes a starving 24-year-old hostage dig his own grave.
BarcelonaThe day after the publication of a Hamas propaganda video where one of the hostages, visibly malnourished, was forced to dig his own grave, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has made it clear, mouth of his Minister of National Security, who has no intention of stopping either the war or the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In a new provocative gesture, far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque Esplanade in Jerusalem on Sunday, a flashpoint for tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, and there said that the only way out of the conflict is "voluntary migration from the Strip" from Israel.
"I want to send a message from here: we have to conquer the entire Strip, declare our sovereignty over Gaza, eliminate every member of Hamas and encourage voluntary migration. It is the only way to return the hostages and win the war," he said in a video recorded inside the Temple Esplanade, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque is located. This is not the first time he has visited it; he already did so in 2023, although this is considered a provocation given that it is the third holiest site in Islam.
According to the agreement ofstatus quo From this historic site, Jews are allowed to visit, but they are not allowed to pray. The Israeli police, who are supposed to enforce this agreement, are under the command of Minister Ben-Gvir and have therefore allowed the far-right politician to enter the site accompanied by a very large group of Jews who have offered a joint prayer.
A staging that was intended to be the Netanyahu government's response to the video published the previous day by the Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, in which a 24-year-old Israeli young man, Evyatar David, kidnapped in Gaza, was seen inside a narrow tunnel. In the recording, David claims that he is digging his own grave, and has said that "time is running out." In the video, which was released to the press with the families' permission, the young man also denounces having been abandoned by his government, directly addressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: "I've been told that in Israel the government cares about prisoners and anyone imprisoned by the enemy. I feel like what you and this one taught, it simply wasn't true," he adds.
It was the second Evyatar David video that Hamas had released in less than 24 hours, and the third in just three days showing visibly malnourished Israeli hostages, such as the also kidnapped Rom Braslavski. With the videos, the Islamist group denounces that the hunger ravaging the entire Gaza Strip due to the Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid is also affecting the Israeli hostages. The Islamist group accompanied the video with a forceful warning: "Only a ceasefire agreement can bring them back alive." An estimated 20 hostages remain alive inside Gaza, and 30 are believed to be dead.
The recording, which has sparked condemnation from several world leaders, including the German chancellor and the French president, brought some 60,000 people to the streets of Tel Aviv yesterday, Saturday, to demand the release of the hostages. The demonstration was unexpectedly joined by the United States special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who met with the families of the hostages. There, he assured them that his government has "a plan to end the war and bring everyone home."
Witkoff, who visited the Gaza Strip for five hours on Friday and visited one of the controversial food distribution centers where the Israeli army shoots to kill those who collect food, did not provide details about this plan. "Our top priority is to bring all the hostages home. For President Trump, it's a sacred mission," Witkoff told family members. Twenty hostages are believed to be alive and 30 dead.
Six more deaths from starvation this Sunday
Meanwhile, in Gaza, war and hunger continue unabated. Palestinians have died as a result of Israeli bombing and military attacks in the last 24 hours, and another 866 people have been injured. 65 were killed while trying to access one of the food distribution points set up by the Israeli government with US assistance, in the so-called hunger queues. In total, an estimated 1,487 Palestinians were killed by Israel while collecting food. The overall toll rises to 60,839 Palestinians killed and 149,588 wounded in Gaza since the start of the war.
This Sunday, Israel claims that 134 boxes of food were dropped on Gaza in planes sent by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium. But the UN and NGOs denounce that Parachuting food is not a good delivery system Because, apart from the fact that many boxes fall into the sea or in inaccessible combat zones, it gives rise to looting and resale, such as those that have already been confirmed with packages ofFood launched in Spain that is being sold for 90 euros Inside Gaza.
Since Israel eased restrictions on humanitarian aid in late July, some 1,600 trucks have entered Gaza, according to the Gaza government. But many of these trucks have also been looted by desperate mobs and armed gangs.