UK’s top diplomat calls on Israel to condemn Smotrich’s remarks on starving Gaza’s population
London (Quds News Network)- British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has called on the Israeli occupation government to retract and slam Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s remarks on starving the entire population of Gaza.
He said in a post on X, “There can be no justification” for the statements.
“International law could not be more clear – the deliberate starvation of civilians is a war crime,” Lammy added.
International law could not be more clear – the deliberate starvation of civilians is a war crime.
There can be no justification for Minister Smotrich’s remarks and we expect the wider Israeli government to retract and condemn them.
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) August 7, 2024
Speaking at a conference hosted by the Israel Hayom outlet on Monday, Smotrich expressed support for blocking aid to the Gaza Strip but said Israel lacked international legitimacy to do so.
“We are bringing in aid because there is no choice,” the far-right minister said, according to the Times of Israel.
“We can’t, in the current global reality, manage a war. Nobody will let us cause two million civilians to die of hunger even though it might be justified and moral until our hostages are returned,” he added.
He said that Israel needed “international legitimacy for this war”.
For about 10 months, the Israeli occupation has imposed a tight siege on the Gaza Strip, extremely limiting the flow of life-saving essential food and medical items.
In June, independent UN investigators said Israel was using starvation on the Palestinian population as a weapon of war. The hunger crisis has led to the death of dozens of people due to malnutrition, mostly children.
