Netanyahu suspends minister who called for nuking Gaza

Israel’s minister of Jewish heritage, Amihai Eliyahu, said Sunday that dropping an atomic bomb on the Gaza Strip is a possibility. His comments were immediately denounced by other Cabinet members.

Eliyahu, a junior minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhau’s Cabinet, made the comment in an interview with Kol Beramah radio. He later tried to walk it back, saying, “Anyone reasonable would understand that the comment was metaphorical. But we definitely need to respond powerfully and disproportionately to terrorism."

Army Radio cited Netanyahu as saying that the remark was “divorced from reality.”

“Israel and the IDF (Israeli army) operate according to the highest standards of international law to avoid hurting non-combatants — and will continue to do so until we achieve victory,” he was quoted as saying.

The radio said Netanyahu suspended Eliyahu from Cabinet meetings until further notice, a move that has no practical effect.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also criticized Eliyahu, saying, “It’s a good thing that people like this are not in charge of Israel’s security.”

Meanwhile, Giora Eiland, an adviser to Gallant, said Israel is far from vanquishing Hamas.

“We don’t see hundreds of people starting to surrender,” Eiland, a reserves general and former head of the National Security Council, told Army Radio. “You see very, very sophisticated attacks from the other side involving the successful coordinated use of paragliders, antitank missile fire and mortar fire. This requires a high degree of coordination among forces and they do it well.”