Israel minister condemned for saying starvation of millions in Gaza could be ‘justified and moral’ | Israel

The EU, France and UK have condemned a senior Israeli minister for suggesting it might be “justified and moral” to starve people in Gaza.

The comments from Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, in which he said “no one in the world will allow us to starve two million people, even though it might be justified and moral in order to free the hostages”, sparked international outrage.

In his speech this week, he went on to say that Israel was “bringing in humanitarian aid because we have no choice. “We are in a situation that requires international legitimacy to conduct this war.”

The EU said the deliberate starvation of civilians was a “war crime” and that it expected the Israeli government to “unequivocally distance itself” from the words of the far-right minister.

France also criticized Smotrich, saying providing humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza is an “obligation under international humanitarian law” for Israel as it controls all access to the territory.

The UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, called on “the wider Israeli government to retract and condemn” the remarks.

Separately on Wednesday, the US state department said Israel must fully investigate allegations of sexual abuse against Palestinian detainees by its soldiers.

Asked about a video aired by Israel’s Channel 12 that appeared to show soldiers taking a detainee out of sight of surveillance cameras to carry out abuses, spokesperson Matthew Miller said US officials had reviewed the video.

“We have seen the video, and reports of sexual abuse of detainees are horrific,” Miller said. “There ought to be zero tolerance for sexual abuse, rape of any detainee, period … If there are detainees who have been sexually assaulted or raped, the government of Israel, the IDF need to fully investigate those actions.”

The White House also called the reports of rape, torture and abuse of Palestinian prisoners “deeply concerning.”

A spokesperson for Israel’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. The Israeli military, which runs some detention facilities where Palestinian prisoners have been held, said in response to earlier allegations that it operated according to the rule of law and any specific claims of abuse were investigated.

The video emerged amid an investigation by Israeli authorities into alleged abuse of Palestinian prisoners by soldiers.

The investigation sparked protests by rightwing Israelis, who broke into two military facilities after military police detained nine soldiers over allegations of severe abuse of a detainee captured in Gaza by army reservists at the Sde Teiman detention facility in southern Israel.

“It is appropriate that the IDF in this case has announced an investigation has arrested a number of people who are alleged to have been involved,” Miller said.

“I won’t speak to the outcome of that investigation, but it ought to proceed swiftly, and if they are determined to be in violation of criminal laws or violations of the IDF’s code of conduct, then, of course, they ought to be held accountable.”

On Monday, the Guardian reported that interviews with released prisoners showed violence, extreme hunger, humiliation and other abuses of Palestinian prisoners had been normalized across Israel’s jail system.

Israeli rights group B’Tselem said in a report that mistreatment was now so systemic that it must be considered a policy of “institutionalised abuse.”

Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report