France expressed outrage Wednesday over recent remarks by far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in which he said it would be justified to starve Palestinians in Gaza to death.
In a statement, the French Foreign Ministry expressed deep astonishment over Smotrich's comments at a conference hosted by Israel's Hayom daily in which he said that "nobody will let us cause 2 million civilians to die of hunger even though it might be justified and moral until our hostages are returned."
"Humanitarian in exchange for humanitarian is morally justified, but what can we do? We live today in a certain reality," he added.
"France calls on the Israeli government to strongly condemn these unacceptable remarks," the ministry's statement said, emphasizing that Israel must comply with a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) dated Jan. 26 to do everything possible to prevent acts of genocide during its military operations in Gaza.
The statement underlined that delivering humanitarian aid to 2 million civilians in emergency conditions in Gaza is an obligation under international humanitarian law, recalling that International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan had previously said that preventing the delivery of aid can constitute a crime.
It also pointed out the importance of achieving a cease-fire in light of the risk of destabilizing the region and the unacceptable number of humanitarian losses.
Israel is defying the ICJ ruling to prevent genocide by failing to allow adequate humanitarian aid to reach Gaza, according to Amnesty International.
Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, leaving the territory's entire population on the verge of famine.
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since last October, mostly women and children, and over 91,600 injured, according to local health authorities.
Over 10 months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
