The European Union, France and the United Kingdom yesterday condemned statements by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (far right), who assured that “letting the people of the Gaza Strip die of hunger” would be “justified” and “moral”.

Asked during an event dedicated to the future of the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been waging a war against Hamas for the past 10 months, Mr Smotrich said on Monday that “no one in the world will allow us to let two million starve to death people, though that would be justified and moral to bring home the hostages’ held there since the raid by the Palestinian Islamist movement’s military arm in southern sectors of Israeli territory on October 7.

“We are letting humanitarian aid go through because we have no choice, we are in a situation that requires us to have international legitimacy to wage this war,” he added.

Mr. Smotrich’s statements caused indignant reactions from the international community.

The European Union “strongly condemns” these statements, according to a press release published yesterday by the European External Action Service. “Minister Smotrich’s statement that ‘it would be justifiable and moral’ for Israel to be allowed to ’cause the death of two million civilians by starvation’ until the ‘civilians are returned’ is more than shameful,” the text emphasizes.

“We expect the Israeli government to unflinchingly distance itself from Minister Smotrich’s statements,” the EU statement added.

For its part, France expressed its “surprise at these scandalous statements” by Mr. Smotrich, a foreign ministry spokesman said during a briefing of accredited editors.

“France urges the Israeli government to strongly condemn these unacceptable statements,” he added.

For the United Kingdom, “there can be no justification for the statements of Minister Smotrich,” the head of British diplomacy, David Lammy, said via X.

He called on the Israeli government to “retract and condemn” those statements, recalling that deliberately letting people die of starvation would be a “war crime” under international law.

The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, where the war is now in its 307th day, remains dire, with almost the entire population (2.4 million inhabitants) displaced and facing massive food shortages.

Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on October 7 killed 1,198 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data. Of the 251 people kidnapped that day, 111 are still being held hostage in Gaza, but 39 are believed to be dead, according to the Israeli military.

In retaliation, Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007, and its wide-ranging operations since then have killed at least 39,677 people, according to the latest figures from the enclave’s health ministry.