Israeli national security minister says he met with a “senior Republican” official at US President Donald Trump’s Mar Lago Estate.
Israeli far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben Gwil has argued that top US Republican lawmakers support the bombing of Gaza’s “food and aid depot.”
The statement made in a social media post on Wednesday comes after Israeli National Security Minister said he met with “senior Republican officials” at “President Donald) Trump’s Mar-a-lago Estate” in Florida, the US.
“They expressed their support for my very clear position on how to act in Gaza and my very clear position that we should bomb our food and aid depots to put military and political pressure on hostages to safely bring them home,” Ben Gwil posted to X in Hebrew.
According to his public schedule, the US president was not attending the event.
Ben-Gvir’s post did not specify which Republicans were in attendance. But Ben Goville’s office told Israeli media that Republican Rep. Tom Emmer, who is considered to be the third-highest member of the U.S. House of Representatives, is among the lawmakers.
The Israeli Times and the Jewish News Syndicate were one of the news outlets that cited Ben Gwil’s office when reporting Emmer’s presence.
Lawmakers are one of the main voices of the US Congress in support of Israel during the war in Gaza, and regularly state that Hamas, not Israel, is to blame the rate of civilian deaths in Palestinian enclaves.
An EMMER spokesman did not reply to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on his visit to Mar-A-Lago and whether lawmakers supported Bengville’s position on the attacks on food and aid sites.
So far, Gaza’s Health Ministry has said at least 1,139 have been killed since the war began in the October 7 attack by Hamas in southern Israel, and at least 51,300 Palestinians have been killed.
Israeli attacks and aid block continues
Ben Gwil is one of Israel’s leading voices to escalate Israel’s attack on Gaza.
A resident of an illegal Israeli settlement on the occupied West Bank, he eagerly supported Trump’s plan to force residents of the Palestinian enclave to resettle Gaza.
He initially resigned as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in January, opposed to a temporary ceasefire agreement.
Before rejoining the government in March, he called on Israel to cut off electricity and water and bomb Gaza’s aid storage as the six-week hiatus in combat reached the end.
The Israeli attack continued even after military operations resumed on March 18, with 1,928 Palestinians dead since.
Trump vowed to end the war upon his inauguration, but the enduring ceasefire agreement remains elusive.
Meanwhile, France, Germany and the UK on Wednesday denounced the Israeli bloc, which is currently undergoing aid, food and medicines entering Gaza.
They called the action “unbearable.”