Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told Jerusalem Post's Amichai Stein that the next stage of the war in Gaza should involve a total occupation of the enclave as a prelude to the implementation of United States President Donald Trump's plan of resettling the strip's entire population to other countries.
"The next step in the war in Gaza will be cutting off the electricity and water, and opening the gates of hell on Gaza with a powerful, deadly and quick attack," Smotrich said.
The tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is close to collapsing due to disagreement between the two parties about the implementation of its second phase. Israel agreed to a US-proposal to extend it for Ramadan and Passover. Hamas rejected the proposal and instead insisted on proceeding to the second phase of the deal.
