Foreign Secretary David Lammy slams Israeli minister over 'moral' starvation claim

Foreign Secretary David Lammy slammed an Israeli minister who argued that starving the people of Gaza may be a “moral” way to get hostages held by terror group Hamas released.

The Cabinet minister urged Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to distance itself from the remarks by finance minister Bezalel Smotrich.

In a speech in Israel on Monday, Mr Smotrich argued that Israel should take control of distributing aid inside Gaza so Hamas does not have any power over it.

“It is impossible in today’s global reality to wage war – no one in the world would let us starve and thirst two million citizens, even though it may be just and moral until they return our hostages,” he added.

He argued that if Israel controlled aid into the besieged strip the war could have been ended by now and the hostages be free.

“You cannot fight Hamas with one hand and give them aid with the other,” he said.

But Mr Lammy tweeted: “International law could not be more clear - the deliberate starvation of civilians is a war crime.

“There can be no justification for Minister Smotrich’s remarks and we expect the wider Israeli government to retract and condemn them.”

Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian crisis, say aid agencies, after Israel’s ten-month military onslaught which has seen nearly the entire population of 2.3 million displaced.

The latest conflict was triggered by Hamas and other terror groups attacking Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.

Israel responded by invading the besieged strip and around 40,000 people in it have since been killed, according to Palestinian health authorities, the vast majority civilians.

Tensions have spiralled further in the region following Hezbollah top military commander Fuad Shukr being killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs and the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Amid the fears of a wider war, Britain and other countries have urged their citizens to leave Lebanon, while commercial routes out remain open.

The UK is preparing a military evacuation of thousands of citizens, if needed.

The Canadian government has decided to pull family members of its diplomats out of Israel, the Canadian Press reported.

Several airlines have suspended flights to Beirut and some to Tel Aviv.

Meanwhile, US military forces struck targets in Houthi-controlled Yemen in the past 24 hours, destroying two drones, a Houthi ground control station, and three anti-ship cruise missiles, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said today.

Earlier, the Iran-aligned Houthi movement said it had attacked a container ship in the Red Sea and two US destroyers in the Gulf of Aden yesterday.

CENTCOM said in a statement on the US strikes: “These weapons presented a clear and imminent threat to US and coalition forces, and merchant vessels in the region.”

It said this “reckless and dangerous behavior” by the Houthis threatened regional stability, but it gave no further details and did not confirm that any US vessels had been attacked.