“No one in the world will allow us to starve two million people, even though it might be justified and moral in order to free the hostages,” Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said at a conference earlier this week.
“We are bringing in humanitarian aid because we have no choice. We are in a situation that requires international legitimacy to conduct this war.”
Smotrich’s remarks sparked outrage in the international community, with the European Union saying the deliberate starvation of civilians was a “war crime.”
“It demonstrates, once again, his contempt for international law and for basic principles of humanity,” the EU said in a statement.
“We expect the Israeli government to unequivocally distance itself from the words of Minister Smotrich,” the EU said, as it called for access to cover the humanitarian needs of Gazans, including hundreds of thousands of children.
The EU reiterated its call for an “immediate ceasefire” to secure the release of all hostages and also to increase the distribution of aid across the Gaza Strip.
France also criticized Smotrich, expressing its “deep dismay at the scandalous remarks.”
Providing humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza is an “obligation under international humanitarian law” for Israel as it controls all access to the territory, it added.
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy said on X that there “can be no justification for Minister Smotrich’s remarks,” and called on “the wider Israeli government to retract and condemn them.”
Since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7, the humanitarian situation in the besieged Palestinian territory remains dire, with almost all of its 2.4 million population displaced and suffering from food shortages.
The war in Gaza began after Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also seized 251 people, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,677 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, which does not provide details on civilian and militant deaths.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said “it may be just and moral” to starve 2 million Gaza residents until Israeli hostages are returned, but “no one in the world would let us.”
In a speech on Monday at the Katif Conference for National Responsibility in the town of Yad Binyamin, the far-right minister said Israel should take control of distributing aid inside Gaza and claimed that Hamas was in control of distribution channels within the strip.
“It is impossible in today’s global reality to wage war – no one in the world would let us starve and thirst two million citizens, even though it may be just and moral until they return our hostages,” he said, adding that if Israel controlled aid distribution instead of Hamas, the war would have ended by now and the hostages would have returned.
“You cannot fight Hamas with one hand and give them aid with the other. It’s his (Hamas’) money, it’s his fuel, it’s his civilian control of the Gaza Strip. It just doesn’t work,” he said.
Israel has control over aid that enters Gaza and aid groups are in charge of distributing it. While there have been some anecdotal reports from Gazans of Hamas stealing aid, it’s unclear how rampant it is. US Special Envoy David Satterfield said in February that no Israeli official had presented him or the Biden administration with “specific evidence of diversion or theft of assistance.”
Israel is facing mounting criticism from aid groups and international organizations for restricting food aid to the besieged Gaza Strip. A United Nations statement, citing independent experts, indicated last month that famine has spread across the entire enclave. The experts accused Israel of conducting an “intentional and targeted starvation campaign,” which they termed a “form of genocidal violence.”
The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of “starvation as a weapon of war,” among other allegations.
Netanyahu has strongly denied the allegations, saying they are based on a “pack of lies.” He has said that if Palestinians in Gaza aren’t getting enough food, “it’s not because Israel is blocking it, it’s because Hamas is stealing it.”
Israel has stated that it will not end the war until all hostages are freed and Hamas is eliminated. The conflict began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. The war has resulted in the deaths of more than 39,000 people in Gaza, according to Palestinian authorities.
Smotrich on Monday advocated for Israeli control of the aid effort “as a part or as an essential means of realizing the defined goals of the war,” and said only minimal aid is needed in Gaza in the months and years to come.
“No one talks about (Israeli) military rule (of Gaza) now. No need to unclog sewers, no need for education, no need for welfare. Gaza in the next two years is (going to be) a war zone. You need food, some medicine and a minimum of sanitation – water, sewage. That’s it,” he said.
