David Ben-Gurion's 1956 remarks on Gaza declassified by IDF Archive

Newly declassified documents from the 1956 Suez War reveal David Ben-Gurion's statements about the Gaza Strip, including calling it a 'malignant danger' and saying he would want it 'swallowed by the sea.' He opposed annexation, citing moral, demographic, and international costs.

To mark 70 years since Operation Kadesh (the Sinai War), the Ministry of Defense is publishing thousands of historical archive documents, maps, photographs, and more. Among the documents, a recording of a conversation between then-Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and IDF officers has been revealed, in which he discussed the issue of the Gaza Strip. Ben-Gurion expressed opposition to the annexation of the Strip, despite the suffering in the communities surrounding Gaza from Fedayeen attacks. He described the moral and political cost of controlling the Strip and feared international isolation and a weapons embargo. "If I believed in miracles, I would want Gaza to be swallowed by the sea," he said. He warned that in the next war, Tel Aviv and Haifa would be bombed. The documents also include references by Shimon Peres, then Director General of the Ministry of Defense, to Israel's isolation and its efforts to obtain weapons.