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Akbar Novruz

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Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has vowed to burn the body of late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and the bodies of other Palestinians involved in the October 7 attack if he becomes defense minister in Israel’s next government.

Speaking in an interview with Israeli public broadcaster Kan Reshet Bet on Tuesday, Ben-Gvir reiterated his demand to receive the defense portfolio following Israel’s upcoming election.

“After I get the defense portfolio, I will make sure to burn Sinwar’s body and the bodies of the October 7th terrorists. As Defense Minister, I will lead a significant change in approach,” Ben-Gvir said, according to Israeli media.

The remarks come during Israel’s election campaign, with Ben-Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit, or Jewish Power, party seeking control of senior government portfolios as part of its demands for participating in a future coalition.

Ben-Gvir announced last week that he would demand the Defense Ministry for himself in the next government. He also presented a security agenda that includes encouraging what he describes as the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank, disarming the Palestinian Authority and arresting senior PA officials whom he accuses of supporting terrorism.

The national security minister has a history of criminal convictions. In 2007, he was convicted of incitement to racism against Arabs and supporting Kach, a group that was on Israeli and US terrorism blacklists.

Ben-Gvir has also repeatedly called for the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in Gaza.

Speaking at a rally organized by the Nahala settler movement near the Gaza border on Sunday, he again expressed his ambition to become defense minister and advocated Israeli settlement throughout the enclave.

“I hope, with God’s help, to be the defense minister of the State of Israel, to return us to Nisanit, and to the entire northern perimeter, and to all of Gaza! To settle more and more!” he said.

Sinwar, who headed Hamas in Gaza during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack and later became chairman of the group’s political bureau, was killed by Israeli troops in Rafah in October 2024.

Israeli forces recovered his body following the firefight, and it was subsequently transferred to an undisclosed location under Israeli military control.

Cremation is prohibited under Islamic burial practices, which generally require the deceased to be buried.

Ben-Gvir’s latest remarks form part of a broader hardline platform he has presented ahead of the election. Beyond his proposals concerning Gaza and the Palestinian Authority, he has called for changes to Israeli military rules of engagement and other security policies should he obtain the defense portfolio.