Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich insisted on Monday in an interview with Radio Galey Israel that "returning the hostages is not the most important thing."
"It is obviously a very important goal, but if you want to destroy Hamas so that there can’t be another October 7, you need to understand that there can’t be a situation where Hamas remains in Gaza," Smotrich stressed.
The minister said that the government's main objective is to "eliminate" the Gaza problem and destroy Hamas. "The excuses are gone, there is no [former US President Joe] Biden, there is no [former US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken, there is no [former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav] Gallant," he pointed out, adding that the only alternative to Hamas' surrender is occupying the Gaza Strip.
