(Jerusalem) The European Union, France and the United Kingdom strongly condemned on Wednesday the remarks of the Israeli Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich (far right), who declared that “letting the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip die of hunger” could “be justified and moral”.
Asked at a conference on the future of the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been at war for 10 months with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Mr. Smotrich declared Monday: “No one in the world will let us starve two million people, although perhaps it is justified and moral to free the hostages” who have been held there since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
“We are bringing in humanitarian aid because we have no choice, we are in a space that requires international legitimacy to wage this war,” he added.
Mr Smotrich’s remarks sparked outrage in the international community.
“The European Union (EU) strongly condemns” these remarks, it said in a statement on Wednesday. “Minister Smotrich’s statement that ‘it could be justified and moral’ to let Israel ‘starve two million civilians’ until the ‘hostages are returned’ is beyond ignominious,” the EU added.
“We expect the Israeli government to unequivocally distance itself from Minister Smotrich’s remarks,” she continued.
For its part, France expressed “its deep dismay at the scandalous remarks” made by Mr. Smotrich, indicated a spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during a press briefing.
“France calls on the Israeli government to firmly condemn these unacceptable remarks,” he added in a statement.
For the United Kingdom “there can be no justification for the remarks of Minister (Bezalel) Smotrich,” affirmed the head of British diplomacy David Lammy on X.
He called on the Israeli government “to withdraw and condemn” its remarks, adding that deliberately starving civilians to death “is a war crime.”
Since the start of the Gaza war on October 7, the humanitarian situation in the besieged Palestinian territory remains dire, with almost all of the 2.4 million residents displaced and suffering from food shortages.
On October 7, Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza into southern Israel carried out attacks that killed 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data. Of the 251 people kidnapped at the time, 111 are still being held in Gaza, including 39 who died, according to the army.
In response, Israel launched an offensive that has so far killed 39,677 people, according to data from the Hamas-run Gaza government’s health ministry, which does not provide details on the number of civilian and combatant deaths.