If the captives, both living and dead, are not returned, Israel will expand the agricultural areas of the kibbutzim Be'eri and Nir Oz into the Gaza perimeter, said the Israeli finance minister
(Feb. 25, 2025 / JNS) Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Monday that if Hamas fails to return all of the hostages it is holding by Saturday, Israel will permanently seize land in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking at the Sovereignty Conference 2025 in Jerusalem, the Religious Zionism Party head said that if the hostages, both the living and the dead, are not returned by then, “Israel will expand the agricultural areas of the kibbutzim Be’eri and Nir Oz into the perimeter area of the Gaza Strip.”
Kibbutz agriculture, he continued, “will expand at the expense of Gaza—and this land will remain in our hands forever.”