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Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for Israel to go to war in the occupied West Bank and dismantle the Palestinian Authority (PA), saying the Israeli army should "do there what we did in Gaza."
The far-right Religious Zionism leader made the remarks on Ynet's political podcast "120 and One" ahead of Israel's Oct. 27 election and also said he wants Israel to annex parts of Gaza and southern Lebanon.
Senior Israeli military and security officials have warned that the West Bank is on the verge of an explosion, citing settler violence among other factors.
The Palestinian Authority holds limited civil and security powers in parts of the territory.
Asked about the security establishment's warnings, Smotrich said he had pressed commanders in the security cabinet for solutions.
"When they came to the cabinet and said this, I said, 'So what do you want? Tell us what to do. You are the army,'" Smotrich said, adding, "I don't understand these meaningless warnings. It's a bit like covering yourselves."
"I certainly have solutions. I think we need to go to war in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). To do there what we did in Gaza. To dismantle the Palestinian Authority, which is a terror authority," he said.
Asked what war would mean, Smotrich pointed to earlier Israeli operations in West Bank refugee camps.
"We already did it. There are three refugee camps there that are empty, that we evacuated the population from for its protection and cleansed of all the terror. I want to kill all the terrorists and collect all the weapons," he said.
"If there is a clear directive, the Israeli army needs to be told: just as you dismantled Hamas in Gaza, there will be no terror infrastructure in Judea and Samaria, no terrorists, no weapons, no tunnels," Smotrich said.
"And if vehicles are turned into weapons and used for ramming as happened last week, then you will not drive on our roads in cars," he added.
Separately, Israel imposed a comprehensive closure on the West Bank and its crossings until Oct. 3, citing the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported Sunday.
Israeli forces closed several roads and village entrances around Ramallah and set up checkpoints.
At least 1,206 Palestinians, including 254 children, have been killed in the West Bank since October 2023, according to Palestinian official figures.
Smotrich also said Israel should expand its borders after the war.
"I would like us to annex at least up to the Yellow Line in Gaza and up to the Litani River in Lebanon, because a war that ends on the lines where it began will not prevent the enemy from going to war next time," he said.
The Yellow Line marks the areas of the Gaza Strip, about 53% of the territory, that the Israeli army has held since a ceasefire took effect in October 2025.
Smotrich's remarks run counter to a U.S.-brokered framework agreement between Netanyahu's government and Lebanon for an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory and Hezbollah's disarmament.
"Of course, I bear collective responsibility. I was a minister in the government on whose watch it happened. I will take this responsibility with me to the grave," Smotrich said of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
"Netanyahu made many mistakes, and I always tried to minimize them," he said.
Smotrich's party has hovered around the electoral threshold in polls and has joined forces with Moshe Feiglin.
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