BRUSSELS(Palestine Foundation Information Center) The European Union (EU) has strongly denounced recent remarks by Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich in which he said that the killing and starvation of two million people in the Gaza Strip is justifiable, calling starvation of civilians a “war crime.”
“Deliberate starvation of civilians is a war crime. Minister Smotrich saying that ‘it might be justified and moral’ to let Israel ‘cause two million civilians to die of hunger’ until the ‘hostages are returned’ is beyond ignominious. It demonstrates, once again, his contempt for international law and for basic principles of humanity,” the EU said in a statement published on its website on Wednesday.
“We expect 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.”
The EU urged “Israel to implement the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and binding orders of the International Court of Justice, and ensure full and unimpeded humanitarian access to cover the needs of scores of civilians, including hundreds of thousands of children, living in extremely dire conditions and exposed to famine and disease in Gaza.”
The EU reiterated “its call for an immediate ceasefire that leads to the release of all hostages and a significant and sustained increase in the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
