Amichai Eliyahu said the issue of the 50 captives still held by Hamas should be ‘dealt with at the end’ of the war
July 30, 2025 14:33
A far-right Israeli minister has called for the remaining hostages in Gaza to be redesignated as “prisoners of war” so that they can be “dealt with at the end of the victory” over Hamas.
Fifty people, 20 of whom are believed to be alive, remain in captivity after being abducted by the terror group during the October 7 massacres.
Their return is one of Israel’s key war goals, with Jerusalem consistently saying that, should Hamas release them and surrender, that would mark the end of the war.
To this end, the IDF has, until recently, maintained a policy of avoiding direct fighting in areas where hostages are believed to be held in order to ensure their safety.
However, some on the Israeli right have previously suggested that the hostages’ freedom should be a secondary aim to the destruction of Hamas and the completion of the military campaign in Gaza.
In an interview with Radio Kol Chai this week, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu – of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party – said: “The hostages should be defined as prisoners of war. Prisoners of war are only dealt with at the end of the victory.
"First, Hamas should be defeated.
"Many people prioritise the hostages over victory — this is a mistake.
"I’m calling to release the prisoners of war after the defeat [of Hamas], not before.”
And, in the same interview, Eliyahu called for Jerusalem to apply “Israeli soverignty” over the Gaza – effectively amounting to an annexation of the Strip.
"Gaza should be Jewish, and then the Arabs will be better off too,” he said, adding that such a move would be “good for both Jews and Arabs”.
It comes after Eliyahu earned a public rebuke from Prime Minister Netanyahu for suggesting that Israel was looking to “wipe out” Gaza.
Speaking to Charedi radio station Kol Barama, he said: “The government is racing ahead for Gaza to be wiped out. Thank God, we are wiping out this evil. We are pushing out this population that has been educated on Mein Kampf.”
He also, again, advocated for the settlement of the Strip by Israelis, saying: “All Gaza will be Jewish."
And he dismissed concerns about the humanitarian situation on the ground, claiming: “There's no hunger in the Gaza Strip, but we don’t need to be concerned with hunger in the Strip. Let the world worry about it.”
In response to his remarks, Netanyahu wrote on X: “Eliyahu does not speak for the government I lead.
"He is not a member of the Security Cabinet that determines the conduct of the war.”
Likewise, Israel’s US ambassador, Yechiel Leiter, said his comments were “wrong, foolish and totally unrepresentative of the government and people of Israel”.
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