Palestine condemns Israeli minister’s remarks on starving Gaza people

RAMALLAH, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) — Palestine condemned on Thursday Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s remarks about starving Gaza people.
Smotrich’s statement is “an explicit admission of adopting the policy of genocide,” the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said in a press statement.
The statement said what was issued by the Israeli minister was a “flagrant violation” of the rules of international law and a direct disregard for international legitimacy resolutions.
It called on the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant and bring Smotrich for adopting “the policy of genocide” and imposing more collective punishment on Palestinian civilians.
Smotrich, a right-wing minister known for his hostile ideas toward Palestinians, considered preventing humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip “justified and moral.”
“We are bringing aid to Gaza because there is no other choice,” he said at a conference hosted by the Israel Hayom newspaper Monday, according to Israeli state-owned Kan TV news.
“We cannot, in the current global reality, conduct a war. No one will allow us to cause the death of two million civilians from starvation, even if it is morally justified in order to return our hostages,” he continued.
The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 39,699, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Thursday. ■