Ben-Gvir alleges US Republicans support striking Gaza’s ‘food and aid depots’
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Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right Israeli minister, claims that key US Republican senators support hitting "food and aid depots" in Gaza.
The comment was made in a social media post on Wednesday, after the Israeli national security minister stated that he had a meeting in Florida, US with top Republican Party officials at [US President Donald] Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.
According to the U.S. president’s public schedule, he was not present at the event.
Although Ben-Gvir did not name the attending Republicans in his post, his office later informed Israeli media that Congressman Tom Emmer—regarded as the third-highest-ranking official in the U.S. House of Representatives—was among those who attended, Al Jazeera reported.
Both the Times of Israel and the Jewish News Syndicate reported Emmer’s presence, citing Ben-Gvir’s office, with video footage from the event seemingly confirming this detail.
Congressman Emmer has been a prominent advocate for Israel in the U.S. Congress during the ongoing war in Gaza. He has consistently argued that Hamas, rather than Israel, is responsible for the high number of civilian casualties in the Palestinian territory.
When contacted by Al Jazeera for comment on his visit to Mar-a-Lago and whether he endorsed Ben-Gvir’s stance on targeting food and aid distribution sites, Emmer’s spokesperson did not respond.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the death toll in the territory has reached at least 51,300 since the war began, following Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of at least 1,139 people.
Ben-Gvir has emerged as one of the most vocal advocates in Israel for intensifying the assault in Gaza.
Living in an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, he has openly supported the idea of resettling Gaza and has praised former President Trump’s proposal to forcibly relocate Palestinians from the enclave.
He previously stepped down from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in January, citing his disagreement with a temporary ceasefire agreement.
