Israeli MP says he wants to 'cleanse' Gaza of Palestinians

A Knesset member from Israel's ruling Likud party has said he wants to "cleanse" the Gaza Strip of Palestinians before they launch another attack.

Amit Halevi told Radio 103FM on Sunday that "occupation is the nature of war".

“We want to occupy the territory to cleanse it of the enemy - otherwise, it will kill your children and kidnap your grandchildren again,” he said.

“For many months we have only been dealing with tactics and not with defeating Hamas.”

Speaking about the negotiations for a hostage-ceasefire deal, Halevi said that there was no possibility of ending Israel's attacks on Gaza.