Netanyahu lauds new Gaza aid plan, says starvation policy allegations a ‘lie’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defends the US and Israel-backed aid distribution plan in Gaza that began operations today, calling it a critical tool to weaken Hamas and firmly rejecting accusations that Israel uses starvation as a weapon of war, during an English-language speech at the Foreign Ministry at an international summit on combating antisemitism.

Addressing the incident in which thousands of Gazans briefly overran one of the newly opened aid distribution sites in the south of the enclave this afternoon, Netanyahu acknowledges that, “There was some loss of control momentarily.”

“Happily, we brought it back under control. We’re going to put many more of these [distribution sites],” says the premier.

According to Netanyahu, the initiative aims to make Hamas operatives “like fish without the water,” by leaving them “without the tool for governance which they use, and that’s basically…the humanitarian aid that they loot.”

Dismissing allegations that Israel is pursuing a deliberate policy of starving Gaza’s civilian population, Netanyahu calls such claims “the current fad, the current lie” that “spreads like wildfire” in the media.

“From day one, or the early days of the war, we decided on a policy: we’re going after Hamas, we’re not going after the civilian population,” says Netanyahu.

He claims that Israel stayed true to this commitment by taking actions to allow civilians to evacuate combat zones and by “supplying them with essential requirements: food, water, medicine. That’s what international law and common sense requires.”

The premier does not mention the more than two months, starting on March 2 and ending only last week, during which all deliveries to the Gaza Strip were suspended, and no food or medical supplies were allowed to enter the enclave.

He claims that there is no proof of malnutrition in the Gaza Strip, and that this can be seen in photographic evidence taken from IDF security inspections of detained civilians and combatants.

“You don’t see one, not one emaciated from the beginning of the war to the present,” he says, not offering any proof to back up his claim.

According to the premier, the “best way” for Israel to combat what he says are false accusations is “winning the war quickly.”

“That’s what we’re trying to do. Win the war quickly, free our hostages, destroy Hamas. The two go hand-in-hand. Because you don’t get the release of hostages unless you apply military pressure. And then, of course, make sure that Gaza doesn’t pose a threat to Israel in the future,” he says.

Netanyahu goes on to assert that false accusations against Israel inspired the murder of the two Israeli embassy staffers, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim in a shooting attack in the US last week.

He says that he met the “beautiful couple” while visiting Washington, and that the two were “killed only because they were Jews.”

He posits that the murder suspect, who shouted “Free Palestine” while being arrested, felt justified in his crime because he felt “Israel is doing the same” by deliberately murdering Gazan civilians.

“No we’re not. We’re not doing the same,” he declares. “We take pains to not do the same,” the premier declares. “We go out of our way to create safe zones, to give humanitarian aid, to make sure that civilians leave.”