Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared that Tel Aviv would not lift its blockade of all goods entering Gaza. Since March, Israel has prevented all food, medicine, fuel, and other aid from reaching besieged Palestinians in the Strip.
Speaking at the Yedioth Ahronoth’s People of Israel Conference on Monday, Smotrich said, “Not even a grain of wheat will enter Gaza.” The leader of the Religious Zionism Party has emerged as one of the most outspoken Israeli ministers advocating for genocide in Gaza.
On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters the Israeli siege has turned Gaza into a killing field. “More than an entire month has passed without a drop of aid into Gaza. No food. No fuel. No medicine. No commercial supplies.” He added, “As aid has dried up, the floodgates of horror have reopened. Gaza is a killing field – and civilians are in an endless death loop.”
Last year, Smotrich said that Israel would be justified if it starved all Palestinians in Gaza to death. “We are bringing in aid because there is no choice,” he said in August 2024. “We can’t, in the current global reality, manage a war. 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.”
Since Donald Trump returned to the White House, Smotrich has become more vocal about his desire to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza. He has repeatedly stated that Tel Aviv must force all Palestinians to leave the Strip, and helped to form an Israeli government office dedicated to removing Gazans from their homeland.
Israel reimposed a full blockade of Gaza on March 2. The siege ended a six-week ceasefire and hostage exchange deal reached with Hamas. Smotrich had opposed the pause in fighting, even as the deal resulted in the release of 30 Israeli hostages.
The hostage exchange was scheduled to continue for another six weeks and would have seen the remaining two-dozen living Israeli captives released by Hamas. However, Smotrich said Tel Aviv never intended to allow the ceasefire deal to progress to that phase, as the second stage of the agreement required Israel to permanently end the fighting in Gaza.
During Monday’s conference, Smotrich said that Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel allowed for Tel Aviv to make historic changes in the region. “It’s good that the war has begun, and it’s unfortunate that it began this way, but we are changing the reality in the Middle East,” he said.
