Ben-Gvir’s Gaza Remarks: His Call for Nightly Killings and the Limits of His Power

Itamar Ben-Gvir used an appearance on former Gaza hostage Rom Braslavski’s podcast to argue for a much more lethal and expansionist Israeli policy in Gaza. He called for nightly killings, used dehumanizing language about Palestinians, and reiterated support for Palestinian “emigration” and Israeli settlement. The remarks are politically significant—but they do not give him authority to direct the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

What Ben-Gvir said on the podcast

In the episode of Braslavski’s podcast that surfaced on August 15, Ben-Gvir said Israel should carry out targeted killings in Gaza and “take down 30 to 40” people every night. He added that the targets should not be limited to people posing an immediate danger at that moment. According to reports of the interview, he said some people in Gaza were “not worthy of life,” “shouldn’t live,” and were “not even people.”

The remarks were made while Ben-Gvir criticized a reduction in Israeli military strikes and disagreed publicly with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach. They therefore represented both a call for greater military violence and an explicit challenge to the government’s current policy.

Hanging and “emigration”

The conversation also addressed the idea of executing convicted terrorists by hanging. Braslavski personally asked Ben-Gvir to let him carry out executions under the death-penalty legislation advanced by Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party. The available reporting establishes the exchange and Ben-Gvir’s political support for that legislation; it does not, on its own, establish every detail of how he described his preferred implementation during the podcast.

Ben-Gvir has separately promoted what he calls the voluntary “emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza. In late July, he described destroying Hamas and encouraging Palestinian emigration as the only solution Israel should accept, while rejecting an agreement involving Hamas through mediators. Those views align with his advocacy for Israeli settlement and long-term Israeli control of Gaza, rather than a negotiated withdrawal.

What authority does Ben-Gvir actually have?

Ben-Gvir is Israel’s national security minister. His portfolio gives him oversight of the Israel Police and the Israel Prison Service, making him an important figure in domestic policing, prison policy, and related law-enforcement administration.

That role has limits:

• He does not command the IDF.
• He does not set the IDF’s military chain of command.
• He cannot legally order airstrikes or other IDF operations in Gaza.
• Israeli courts have also restricted his ability to issue operational orders to police in the field.

His statements can still matter. He is a cabinet minister, leads a far-right coalition party, and can use his party’s parliamentary support to pressure Netanyahu. His influence is therefore political and institutional rather than operational control over the Gaza war.

How the remarks could feature in the ICJ genocide case

South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has included statements by Israeli political and military officials as material from which alleged genocidal intent might be inferred. South Africa’s initial application specifically argued that such statements indicated an intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a group.

The legal distinction is important. The ICJ’s provisional-measures orders did not determine that Israel had committed genocide. They addressed the plausibility of rights protected under the Genocide Convention and imposed measures requiring Israel to prevent prohibited acts, including killing members of the protected group, and to prevent and punish direct and public incitement to genocide.

Ben-Gvir’s words could consequently be cited by South Africa or other participants as contextual evidence of dehumanization, possible intent, or incitement. But the remarks alone are not an ICJ finding that Ben-Gvir is individually criminally liable, nor are they a final finding that Israel committed genocide. Israel rejects the genocide allegation and says its war is directed at Hamas rather than Palestinians as a protected group.

Why the comments matter politically

The podcast remarks reinforce Ben-Gvir’s appeal to an ultranationalist constituency that favors maximal military force, permanent Israeli control, settlement in Gaza, and Palestinian departure. Reporting has described those once-fringe positions as gaining prominence ahead of Israel’s October 27 election, while also noting that Israeli domestic media gave this specific episode relatively little attention.

That combination—limited mainstream coverage but a clear appeal to his political base—could strengthen Ben-Gvir’s bargaining position inside Netanyahu’s coalition. It does not mean that he determines military policy, but it can make it harder for Netanyahu to adopt a compromise that alienates Ben-Gvir’s party.

How the remarks fit the stalled Gaza negotiations

The comments came amid a dispute over the sequence of Hamas disarmament and an Israeli military withdrawal. Israeli officials have said that troops will not withdraw without “genuine disarmament” of Hamas. Hamas, by contrast, has linked the handover of heavy weapons to an end to Israeli military action and a withdrawal of Israeli forces.

A US-backed framework associated with President Donald Trump reportedly connected Hamas’s disarmament to a phased Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu rejected the plan’s withdrawal provisions and said Israel would not leave until Hamas was fully disarmed.

Ben-Gvir’s position is more uncompromising still. He has opposed the disarmament-and-withdrawal deal, called it unacceptable, and promoted continued Israeli control, Palestinian “emigration,” and settlement instead.

The result is a three-way political tension: Hamas conditions disarmament on an Israeli withdrawal; Trump’s proposed framework links the two steps; and Netanyahu insists that disarmament must come first. Ben-Gvir rejects the premise of a negotiated withdrawal altogether. His podcast remarks are best understood in that context—as a public demand for escalation and permanent control, backed by political leverage but not by command of Israel’s military operations.