Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday morning responded to the push to prioritize the hostages' return above all else, reminding Israelis and the world that Hamas has promised to carry out additional massacres in the future.
"Let's make a decision to finish with Gaza, once and for all," Smotrich urged, in an interview with Galei Israel Radio. "Let's create faith with the nation and prove that we are achieving the goal and destroying Hamas."
"We need to say the truth: Bringing the hostages home is not the most important goal. It's obviously a very, very important goal, but whoever wants to destroy Hamas and neutralize the possibility for another October 7th needs to understand that there cannot be a situation in Gaza in which Hamas remains present and existent.
"We have no more excuses: There is no [former US President Joe] Biden, there is no [former US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken, there is no [former Defense Minister Yoav] Gallant, there is no Chief of Staff [Herzi Halevi] who with his own body prevented the cessation of humanitarian aid - there are no excuses, and I say to the Prime Minister: We have no time for this. The alternative to surrender is to take over land in Gaza and destroy Hamas."
In November 2023, shortly after the war began, Hamas' spokesman for the Hamas government in Gaza Ghazi Hamad promised in a video published on X that the terror group "will repeat the October 7 attack time and again until Israel is annihilated."
He also claimed, "We are victims - everything we do is justified."
The Hostages Families Forum, which represents some of the families of hostages, responded: "The families have nothing to say this morning, other than a single word: Shameful. At least the Minister has revealed the hard truth to the public: This government has decided to give up on the hostages, consciously. Minister Smotrich, history will remember how you hardened your heart to your brothers and sisters in captivity and chose not to save them - whether from death or from disappearance."