World Bulletin / News Desk

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked the attorney general to examine the possibility of expelling relatives of Palestinians who are allegedly linked to assaults in the Gaza Strip, his office said Wednesday.

"Expelling family members of Palestinians who aided attacks to Gaza will lead to a significant decrease in terrorist attacks," a spokesman for Netanyahu said on Twitter.

An ongoing wave of violence since October has killed 180 Palestinians as well as 28 Israelis, an American, a Sudanese and an Eritrean.

The Gaza Strip, hit by three Israeli attacks since 2008, currently is under an Israeli blockade that severely restricts the movement of people and goods.

It also has one of the world's highest unemployment rates, and the UN development agency said in September that conditions there could make it uninhabitable by 2020.

The Palestinian enclave, separated from the occupied West Bank by Israeli territory, has remained relatively calm during the current wave of violence.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has reportedly said previously that such expulsions would violate both Israeli and international law.

Mandelblit was said to have made his recommendation after a member of Netanyahu's cabinet who is also a political rival of the prime minister requested expelling relatives of alleged attackers to Gaza or Syria.

Netanyahu has come under heavy pressure from right-wing members of his coalition over the violence.