Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday that the destruction of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is more important than the return of those he called kidnapped from Gaza, to which opposition leader Yair Lapid responded by saying that his position regarding the detainees is a “moral disgrace.”

Smotrich explained, "The return of the kidnapped people at all costs is not the most important matter, but rather the destruction of Hamas," adding, "Whoever calls for a (prisoner) exchange deal at any price will bring loss to Israel and reduce the possibility of returning the kidnapped ones," he said.

Smotrich - who heads the "Religious Zionism" party - usually raises controversy with his statements, and he previously acknowledged to the families of Israeli detainees held by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza that he cannot promise them to return all the prisoners alive.

He added, "In my estimation, what is happening to manage this war is correct, and there is a clear policy that we will follow until the end, and we are prepared to pay prices for that."

'Moral disgrace'

The statements of the Israeli Finance Minister on Tuesday quickly sparked a response from opposition leader Yair Lapid, who said that "Smotrich's position on the return of the kidnapped people is a moral disgrace."

Lapid previously said that Israel "will neither be safe nor a moral state nor will it win the war unless the kidnappers return."

Lapid's statements coincided with previous statements by the Minister of Heritage in the Israeli government, Amichai Eliyahu, in which he said that "dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza is a possible solution."

The Israeli opposition leader also previously called for the formation of a new government, and believed that the time had come for Benjamin Netanyahu's government to step down, stressing that the person during whose term "the greatest catastrophe we have witnessed occurred must leave our lives."

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies