Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich discussed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to end the war in Gaza by the end of the calendar year in a press conference on Thursday.
"I am here to create order, to show the people of Israel that we need to win... and we can win. We can do it quickly," he said.
The minister outlined the steps needed to isolate Hamas and topple the remaining terrorist organizations' military capabilities.
“In four words, we isolate Hamas from their weapons, their money, their people, and their land. That is how we will win.”
He also stated that the IDF would need to close Hamas’s radius of operations and take land.
Surrender, or fight
“We will give them an ultimatum: surrender on our terms, or fight,” he said.
Surrender, in Smotrich’s words, would see the release of all hostages, Hamas surrendering its weapons and its leaders being exiled, and a complete demilitarization of Gaza.
“Israel must completely hold control of the entire strip, forever. We will annex a security perimeter, and open the gates of Gaza for voluntary immigration,” he said.
“We owe this to the fallen and their families, to the hostages and their families, to the heroic reservists, to the residents of the south, for the security of Israel, for the future of our children, for justice, for the Jews of the world, and for the security of the entire Western world. A decisive victory," he concluded.