The European Union on Wednesday condemned statements by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in which he deplored aid for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and described starvation as morally justified.
“Deliberate starvation of civilians is a war crime,” EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.
“Minister Smotrich saying that ‘it might be justified and moral’ to let Israel ’cause 2 million civilians to die of hunger’ until the ‘hostages are returned’ is beyond ignominious,” Borrell continued.
“It demonstrates, once again, his contempt for international law and for basic principles of humanity.”
The EU top diplomat went on to call on the Israeli government to “unequivocally distance itself from the words of Minister Smotrich, as well as to establish transparency on the reported acts of torture in the Sde Teiman prison.”
According to Israeli media reports, Smotrich recently said it would be “justified and moral” to block aid supplies to Gaza until all hostages seized in the October 7 attacks are released.
Smotrich said such a blockade would be justified even if it entailed the starvation of “2 million civilians” in Gaza, but argued that the international community would not allow such a measure, the Times of Israel reported.
Earlier on Wednesday, Germany and France had also condemned the minister’s comments.
“These are completely unacceptable and outrageous statements by the Israeli Finance Minister. We reject them in the strongest possible terms,” said a spokesman for the Foreign Office in Berlin.
“It is an imperative of humanity and a basic principle of international humanitarian law that civilians must be protected in war and must have access to water and food,” the spokesman added.
The French Foreign Ministry called on the Israeli government to “strongly condemn these unacceptable statements.”
“France stresses that the provision of humanitarian aid to 2 million civilians in an absolute emergency, in an area under blockade where access points are controlled by Israel, is an obligation under international humanitarian law, as the International Court of Justice has recalled,” the statement said.
The German Foreign Office spokesman also said the comments would be “followed very closely” by international rights courts in The Hague, where Israel has faced allegations of genocide.
Back in May, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, said he was requesting arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel has been bombarding Gaza since Palestinian militant organization Hamas launched unprecedented attacks on Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking a further 250 hostage into the Gaza Strip.
Israel has come under international criticism due to the high number of civilian casualties and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Ten months on from Israel’s air and ground offensive, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says more than 39,600 people have died in the Palestinian territory.
