Israel’s national security minister says he met with ‘senior Republican Party’ officials at US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has claimed that top US Republican lawmakers support bombing “food and aid depots” in Gaza.
The statement, made in a social media post on Wednesday, came after the Israeli national security minister said he had met with “senior Republican Party officials at [US President Donald] Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate” in Florida in the United States.
“They expressed support for my very clear position on how to act in Gaza and that the food and aid depots should be bombed in order to create military and political pressure to bring our hostages home safely,” Ben-Gvir posted on X in Hebrew.
The US president was not at the event, according to his public schedule.
Ben-Gvir’s post did not specify which Republicans were in attendance. However, Ben-Gvir’s office told Israeli media that Republican Congressman Tom Emmer, considered to be the third-highest-ranking member of the US House of Representatives, was among the lawmakers present.
The Times of Israel and the Jewish News Syndicate were among the news outlets that cited Ben-Gvir’s office in reporting Emmer’s presence, which also appeared to be confirmed by video of the event.
The congressman has been one of the leading voices in the US Congress supporting Israel amid the war in Gaza, and has regularly said that Hamas, and not Israel, was to blame for the high rate of civilian deaths in the Palestinian enclave.
A spokesman for Emmer did not reply to a request for comment from Al Jazeera regarding the Mar-a-Lago visit and whether the congressman supported Ben-Gvir’s position on attacking food and aid sites.
To date, the Health Ministry in Gaza has said at least 51,300 Palestinians have been killed since the war began in the wake of the October 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel, during which at least 1,139 people were killed.
Israeli attacks, aid block continue
Ben-Gvir has been one of the leading voices in Israel calling for the escalation of Israel’s assault on Gaza.
A resident of an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, he has called for the resettlement of Gaza and glowingly endorsed Trump’s plan to forcibly displace residents of the Palestinian enclave.
He initially resigned from the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in January, in opposition to a temporary ceasefire deal.
Before rejoining the government in March, he called for Israel to cut off electricity and water and to bomb aid depots in Gaza as a six-week pause in fighting reached its end.
Israeli attacks have continued after military operations resumed on March 18, with 1,928 Palestinians killed since then.
While Trump had vowed to end the war upon taking office, a lasting ceasefire agreement has remained elusive.
Meanwhile, France, Germany and the United Kingdom condemned on Wednesday the ongoing Israeli blocking of aid, food and medicine entering Gaza.
They called the actions “intolerable”.