Date: unknown
Location: www.aa.com.tr
JERUSALEM/ANKARA
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Givr once again publicly demanded a complete stop to humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip on Friday, further entrenching Israel's policy of starvation and genocide against Palestinian civilians in the besieged enclave.
"I call on Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) and my fellow ministers to reverse the disastrous decision to renew aid to Gaza during the next Cabinet meeting; a decision I voted against in the previous session," Ben-Gvir said on X.
He cynically claimed: "It is foolish, morally wrong, and strategically mistaken for Gazans to receive supplies while our hostages suffer from hunger. The equation must be clear: Want humanitarian aid? Release our hostages."
On Monday, Ben-Gvir reaffirmed his insistence on starving Palestinians in Gaza as part of Israel’s genocidal war.
Israel’s Channel 14 indicated that Ben-Gvir said “the only aid that should enter Gaza is for the purpose of voluntary migration” -- a clear expression of a deportation agenda to empty the enclave of its indigenous population under the cover of the genocidal war.
Ben-Gvir's comment came as the Israeli Security Cabinet approved last Sunday an aid delivery plan for Palestinians in war-torn Gaza through private US security contractors based on handing over aid boxes to individuals.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee announced Friday that a food aid operation for Gaza is set to begin soon and will proceed without Israel's involvement.
Israel has kept Gaza’s crossings closed to food, medical and humanitarian aid since March 2, deepening an already humanitarian crisis in the enclave, according to government, human rights, and international reports.
Nearly 52,800 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.