An Israeli minister was suspended from government meetings "until further notice" on Sunday, November 5, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said, after suggesting in an interview dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza.

Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, an ultranationalist politician part of Netnayahu's ruling coalition, told Israel's Kol Barama radio he was not entirely satisfied with the scale of Israel's retaliation in the Palestinian territory after Hamas fighters carried out a deadly attack on October 7 inside southern Israel.

When the interviewer asked whether the Israeli minister advocated dropping "some kind of atomic bomb" on the Gaza Strip "to kill everyone," Eliyahu replied: "That's one option."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office quickly responded to the minister's remarks, issuing a statement in which it described them as "disconnected from reality," adding that Israel was trying to spare "non-combatants" in Gaza.

In a follow-up question about the hostages held in Gaza, Eliyahu said that "in war we pay a price. (...) Why are the lives of the hostages (...) more important than the lives of the soldiers?"

The Hostages and Missing Persons and Families Forum, representing relatives of people taken by Hamas, slammed Eliyahu's "reckless and cruel" statements. "International law, along with fundamental principles of human morality and common sense, strictly prohibits the use of mass destruction weapons," it said in a statement.

Following the outcry over his remarks, Eliyahu later said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that his statement about the atomic bomb was "metaphorical." Israel has never admitted to having a nuclear bomb.

Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Eliyahu's remarks reveal that "Israel possesses nuclear weapons, which is an open secret." He added: "But it confirms the truth of the racist view Israelis hold against Palestinians. This is the true face of the occupation government."

Saudi Arabia criticized the Netanyahu government for not dismissing him. "Failing to immediately dismiss the minister from the government and simply freezing his membership reflects the height of disdain for all human, moral, religious and legal standards and values of the Israeli government," the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement. Jordan said the minister's remarks were a "call for genocide and a hate crime" against the Palestinians.