A far-right Israeli minister suggested Sunday that dropping a "nuclear bomb" on the Gaza strip was an "option," before being reprimanded by the government for the comment.
Israeli Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu, from the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, said that "one of Israel’s options in the war in Gaza is to drop a nuclear bomb on the Strip," daily Times of Israel reported.
Speaking a radio interview, Eliyahu also "voices his objection to allowing any humanitarian aid into Gaza."
"We wouldn’t hand the Nazis humanitarian aid," the minister said, adding that "there is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza."
The far-right minister also said that the Palestinian population "can go to Ireland or deserts, the monsters in Gaza should find a solution by themselves."
He added: "Anyone waving a Palestinian or Hamas flag shouldn’t continue living on the face of the earth."
Eliyahu was later suspended from government meetings "until further notice," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.
Netanyahu's office issued a statement in which it described them as "disconnected from reality."
Following the outcry over his remarks Eliyahu later said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that his statement about the atomic bomb was "metaphorical."
Israel has never admitted to having a nuclear bomb.
Earlier, opposition leader Yair Lapid called for Eliyahu’s dismissal over his remarks.
Lapid dubbed it as "a shocking and crazy statement by an irresponsible minister."
"He harmed the families of the abductees, harmed Israeli society and harmed our international standing," he said the social media platform X.
He added that the presence of the extremists in the government endangers the country and it's ongoing invasion of Gaza.
Israel's military campaign in the besieged Palestinian territory since Oct. 7 has killed 9,488 people, most of them women and children. Israeli casualties remain around 1,500.
