Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu has ignited outrage after openly stating that the Israeli entity is intensifying efforts to erase Gaza, with the aim of forcibly displacing its Palestinian population and replacing them with Israeli settlers, a move widely condemned as a campaign of ethnic cleansing and settler colonialism.

“The government is racing ahead for Gaza to be wiped out,” Eliyahu told Kol Barama, a Haredi radio station, as reported by Israeli media. “Thank God, we are wiping out this evil. We are pushing this population that has been educated on Mein Kampf.”

A member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, Eliyahu said the aim is to establish Jewish settlements across the enclave. He dismissed the idea of containment or limited zoning for those communities. “All Gaza will be Jewish,” he said, though he added that Arabs who are loyal to "Israel" could be permitted to stay. “We aren’t racists,” he asserted.

The minister also rejected reports of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where aid agencies have warned of widespread famine and the collapse of essential services amid the ongoing Israeli genocide. “There’s no hunger in Gaza,” he said. “But we don’t need to be concerned with hunger in the Strip. Let the world worry about it.” Eliyahu described the international concern over food shortages as “a campaign against Israel” and insisted, “we are at war and trying to kill ‘these monsters.’”

'A propaganda disaster' 

Eliyahu’s remarks triggered condemnation across the political spectrum, with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calling them both morally repugnant and strategically damaging.

“His words are a moral attack and a propaganda disaster,” Lapid said. “Israel will never convince the world of the justice of our war against terror as long as we are led by an extremist minority government with ministers who sanctify blood and death.”

“IDF soldiers do not fight, are killed, and injured to wipe out a civilian population,” Lapid claimed. “They fight to return the kidnapped and ensure Israel’s security.”

'Riviera in Gaza – From Vision to Reality'

Eliyahu’s remarks come amid a renewed wave of far-right rhetoric from senior Israeli officials pushing for permanent demographic and territorial changes in the Gaza Strip. Earlier this week, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich took part in a Knesset conference titled “Riviera in Gaza – From Vision to Reality," which explicitly promoted plans to establish Israeli settler colonies in Gaza once the war ends.

Speaking at the event, Smotrich claimed support from military leadership, saying, “The chief of staff told me a week ago that the northern border of the Gaza Strip needs to be annexed for security reasons.” Organizers of the event claimed they had developed a framework addressing the “social, legal, security, and logistical” elements of such a settlement project, although no specific details were made public.

The conference drew a disturbing array of participants, including sitting government ministers, Knesset members, heads of illegal settlement councils, military personnel stationed near Gaza, and relatives of captives still held in the Strip, signaling broad institutional support for an agenda that violates international law.

Backlash from within

The push to repopulate Gaza with Israeli settlers has sparked alarm, not just from opposition lawmakers but also within parts of the Israeli legal and military establishment. Gilad Kariv, a Knesset member from the center-left Labor Party, condemned the comments made by Eliyahu and Smotrich, accusing them of inciting violations of international law.

“Their positions are not aligned with any government or Knesset decisions, nor are they part of the war objectives set by the cabinet,” Kariv said. “In fact, the leaders of the defense establishment oppose them.”

Kariv also warned of the wider ramifications of such rhetoric, stating: “Their words endanger IDF soldiers and commanders, inflict strategic harm on Israel’s global standing, erode social cohesion within the country..."

Despite these warnings, the Israeli entity appears to be moving forward with plans that reflect long-standing settler-colonial aims in Gaza and the West Bank, further entrenching its occupation through demographic engineering and the destruction of Palestinian life and sovereignty.

'Israel' votes on legalizing the occupation

On July 23, the Israeli parliament passed a controversial bill claiming Israeli "sovereignty" over the West Bank and Jordan Valley, with the legislation receiving majority support from Knesset members.

The vote passed with 71 members supporting the measure and 13 opposing it, demonstrating the cohesion within the right-wing ruling coalition while also securing unexpected support from the opposition Yisrael Beiteinu party.

While the resolution itself holds no binding legal authority, its passage before a three-month legislative break reflects increasing political traction for "annexation policies". It follows the Knesset's 2024 rejection of Palestinian statehood and aligns with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's persistent efforts to formalize Israeli authority throughout the West Bank.

The Knesset's passage of this resolution has been met with unequivocal Palestinian rejection, as expressed by Resistance factions in their statements, while Palestinian Authority Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh also voiced the PA's opposition to this move, calling on international parties to recognize the State of Palestine as a political response to this decision.