Former Israeli governor of the Gaza Strip, Yitzhak Pundak, stated that if Israel would kill 500 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, “they will calm down immediately”. Pundak made this statement in an interview with Israel Channel Two on the occasion of receiving the ceremonial rank of general at the age of 100.

Pundak, who was appointed military governor of Gaza in 1971 by then Defence Minister Moshe Dayan, added that “we aren’t taking care of things in Gaza in the correct manner. For every rocket [the Palestinians] fire from Gaza, we should respond with twenty (tank) shots. If we kill 500 they will calm down immediately. Believe me, I have tremendous experience with this. I took care of the Arabs for five years”.

“I was the governor of Gaza”, Pundak continued. “Within two years Gaza completely quieted down. If they played football, I kicked the first ball. I distributed the prizes. They gave me twelve going away parties”. 

In a June interview with Israel Army radio, Pundak confirmed that Zionist forces conducted ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the 1948 Middle East War. “My conscience is at ease with that because if we hadn’t done so, then there would be no state by now. There would be a million more Arabs,” he said.