Israeli lawmaker says its becoming clear that 'all Gazans must be destroyed'

An Israeli lawmaker from Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party has said that it was becoming increasingly clear to Israelis that "all Gazans must be destroyed", Israeli media reported Tuesday.

Moshe Saada claimed that such calls had seeped across the political spectrum, with more supposedly moderate elements of Israeli society calling for Gaza in its current state to be destroyed entirely.

"My friends at the prosecutor's office, who fought with me on political matters, in debates, tell me, 'Moshe, it is clear that all the Gazans need to be destroyed,' and these are statements I have never heard," Saade told Channel 14.

Such statements proved that 'the right' was right on the issue, Saada said.

The remarks from Saada come as Israeli politicians make increasingly genocidal statements about Palestinians in Gaza, amid a brutal air and ground assault that has killed more than 22,000 people. Almost all of Gaza's population have been displaced from their homes since the assault began on 7 October.

While Israel has often claimed that its operation aims to eradicate Hamas, several politicians and lawmakers have called for Gaza as a whole to be destroyed.

In November, far-right minister Amichai Eliyahu said that dropping a nuclear weapon on the Gaza Strip is "an option", and has maintained that "there are no non-combatants in Gaza." 

Both Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have in recent days reiterated their calls for Gazans to be pushed out of the territory.

Calls for Gaza to be ethnically cleansed have been slammed even by Israel's staunchest ally, the US.

Israel is reportedly looking into a plan to expel the Palestinian population to third countries including Congo.