Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Monday morning in an interview with the Kan public broadcaster's Reshet Bet radio station that an ultimatum would soon be issued to Hamas, demanding that it disarm as part of his broader vision for renewed Israeli settlement in the enclave.
"An ultimatum will soon be given to Hamas according to which all weapons, headquarters and tunnels must be removed from the Gaza Strip," the minister said.
"If it complies, good," Smotrich said. "If not, we will receive the legitimacy to act on our own. The Israel Defense Forces are already working on plans. In the end, we will conquer the Gaza Strip and establish Jewish settlement there."
Smotrich, who heads the Religious Zionism party and serves as finance minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, said he believed the chances of Hamas agreeing to disarm were "close to zero" and that the group would likely attempt to evade such demands.
"It won't drag on endlessly," he said. "I worked to ensure that this is time-limited and that the disarmament will be genuine disarmament."
Last week, Smotrich expressed similar views at the Jerusalem Conference organized by the religious Zionist Besheva newspaper. "Gaza is part of the Land of Israel," he said. "There will be Israeli settlement there. Where there is no settlement, there is no security."
"The credit for what we are privileged to do in this term in Judea and Samaria belongs to the generation of pioneers and founders. I feel like a dwarf standing on the shoulders of giants," Smotrich said. "I have the privilege of being in a position where I can take this very, very significantly forward."
And regarding Gaza, he added: "We will settle it. It is part of Israel. Gaza, for those who still don't understand, is part of the Land of Israel. We will destroy Hamas and ultimately there will be Israeli settlement there."
