The post Smotrich calls on Netanyahu to take over Gaza, rebuild settlements in Strip appeared first on The Times of Israel.

Gaza is ours, and its future will affect our own future more than anyone else’s" said the Israeli Finance Minister

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that the government was "determined to pass it [the state budget] on first reading,” during a press conference at the Knesset on Monday. Israel’s Finance Ministry said on Monday it delivered the 2026 state budget draft to the Knesset ahead of the first vote scheduled to take place either on Wednesday or next week at the latest,

Turning to the 2026 state budget, Smotrich says that “we are determined to pass it on first reading and then discuss it and pass all the important reforms that are here for economic growth and lowering the cost of living, and to pass it on second and third readings before the end of March.”

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a press conference regarding settlements expansion for the long-frozen E1 settlement, that would split East Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank, near the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 14, 2025. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to shut a US-led multinational coordinating center that supports President Donald Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war.