Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said it “may be just and moral” to starve 2 million Gazans to death until Israeli hostages are returned, adding that “no one in the world would let us (do that).”
In a speech on Monday (5) at the Katif Conference, the far-right minister said Israel should take control of the distribution of aid inside Gaza and claimed that Hamas was in control of the distribution channels inside the enclave.
“It is impossible in today’s global reality to wage war – no one in the world would let us starve and thirst to death two million citizens, even if it is just and moral until they return our hostages,” he said.
He further stated that if Israel controlled the distribution of aid instead of Hamas, the war would have already ended and the hostages would have returned.
“You can’t fight Hamas with one hand and give them aid with the other. It’s their (Hamas’) money, it’s their fuel, it’s their civilian control of the Gaza Strip. It just doesn’t work,” he said.
Israel has control over the aid that enters Gaza, and aid groups are responsible for distributing it. While there have been some reports from Gazans of aid theft by Hamas, it is unclear how much of this actually happens.
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 aid.”
Israel is facing growing criticism from aid groups and international organizations for restricting food aid to the Gaza Strip.
A United Nations statement citing independent experts said last month that famine had spread across the enclave. The experts accused Israel of waging an “intentional and targeted campaign of famine,” which they called a “form of genocidal violence.”
The International Criminal Court prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants against 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 said that if Palestinians in Gaza are not getting enough food, “it’s not because Israel is blockading it, it’s because Hamas is stealing it.”
Israel has declared 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 about 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 defended Israeli control of the aid operation “as part of or as an essential means to achieve the defined aims of the war,” and said only minimal aid was needed in Gaza in the coming months and years.
“Nobody talks about the (Israeli) military government (of Gaza) now. There is no need for unblocking 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.
Source: CNN Brasil
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