Israeli minister: Blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza 'may be reasonable and moral', but international community won't allow it
2024-08-07
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According to reports from The Times of Israel and Turkey's Anadolu Agency on the 5th, Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich hinted that day that he believed it "might be reasonable and moral" to prevent humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip, even if it would cause 2 million civilians to die of hunger. But he added that the international community would not allow that to happen.
Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich Photo source: Israeli media
On August 5, local time, while attending an event hosted by Israel Today, Smotrich said: "We provide assistance because we have no choice. In the current global reality, we cannot control a war. No one will allow us to cause 2 million civilians to die of hunger, even if that may be reasonable and moral before our hostages are released. It is morally reasonable to exchange humanitarianism for humanitarianism, but what can we do? We live in such a reality today, and we need to make this war internationally legitimate."
He argued that Israel must regain full control of the supplies entering the Gaza Strip and expressed his opposition to the Israeli military and Defense Minister Galant's position on the issue. He said, "I don't know whether the prime minister doesn't want to control them or has no way to control them." He also accused the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) of taking away aid supplies and called it the "main factor" that prolonged this round of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The far-right minister reiterated his opposition to any prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas, calling the current ceasefire proposals "unjust and immoral" because they would only free a small number of detainees and endanger Israel's national security. He also opposed the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli detainees, claiming that those Palestinians would "come back to kill Jews."
In addition, Smotrich said that although he supports Israel's re-control of the Gaza Strip, he did not ask for this to be defined as one of the goals of this war. He claimed that if the Israeli army had not withdrawn from the Gaza Strip in 2005, the attack on Israel on October 7 last year would never have happened, and claimed that "without settlements, there would be terrorism." The Times of Israel said that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had said that it was unrealistic for Israel to regain control of the Gaza Strip, angering his far-right allies.
Turkey's Anadolu Agency pointed out that the United Nations has passed a resolution that Israel's construction of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories is illegal and a major obstacle to the realization of the "two-state solution." The report also said that since the outbreak of this round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Israel has ignored the UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and continued its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has been condemned by the international community.
