Israeli finance minister urges Mossad to target Hamas leaders

JERUSALEM

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on the Mossad intelligence agency Thursday to target Hamas leaders and completely destroy the Gaza Strip.

His remarks followed local media reports detailing an Israeli initiative proposed by negotiators that was presented to the Security Cabinet regarding a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.

''The time has come for the Mossad to resume dealing with what it was trained to do: Taking out Hamas leaders across the world and not (taking part in) negotiations that have been conducted irresponsibly and harm Israel’s security,'' the far-right minister wrote on X.

Rejecting negotiations with Hamas on a prisoner exchange deal, Smotrich said "from now, we should only speak to Hamas with shelling and bombs.''

He also called for Israeli forces to enter the southern Gaza city of Rafah ''as quickly and hard as possible before continuing throughout the entire Strip until (Hamas’s) total destruction.''

''This is critical for Israel’s security and it’s also the only chance to bring back the hostages,'' Smotrich added.

Israel’s war cabinet revealed a new proposed deal Thursday for a prisoner exchange with Hamas and a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli media.

The new initiative, which hasn’t been officially announced yet, reportedly demands that Hamas release over 20 Israeli captives, according to Israel's Channel 13.

The deal may not encompass the release of the 40 hostages Israel had sought in previous weeks, according to the channel.

The channel alleged that Egypt is gearing up to push for the deal, with an Egyptian envoy set to arrive in Israel on Friday to discuss the details. However, there has been no official statement from Cairo on the channel's report as yet.

Qatar, Egypt and the US are trying to reach a hostage swap deal and cease-fire in Gaza as the first pause in fighting lasted only a week in late November last year, which resulted in limited aid entering the Gaza Strip as well as exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, mostly women and children detained in Israeli jails.

Hamas is estimated to be holding more than 130 Israeli hostages, while Tel Aviv is holding more than 9,100 Palestinians in its jails.

Hamas demands an end to Israel’s deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory for any hostage-prisoner swap deal with Tel Aviv.

Israel has waged a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

More than 34,300 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 77,300 others injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul