WASHINGTON

US State Department on Monday said statements by an Israeli minister who threatened to consider using nuclear bombs in Gaza is "wholly unacceptable".

"We continue to believe that it is important for all sides of this conflict to refrain from hateful rhetoric," Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told a briefing.

During an interview on Sunday, Israel’s Cultural Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, a minister from the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, said dropping a “nuclear bomb” on the Gaza Strip is “an option.”

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu distanced himself from this statement and, according to media reports, suspended Eliyahu from Cabinet meetings until further notice.