Israel‘s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed accusations that his country is committing genocide or deliberately starving civilians in Gaza.
On Sunday, he told reporters: ‘If we had wanted to commit genocide, it would have taken exactly one afternoon.’
Netanyahu has constantly denied claims that his forces are committing genocide in the Strip and has said that Israel tries to avoid civilians who are put in harm’s way by Hamas.
The remarks came during two press conferences in Jerusalem, one for foreign journalists and one for Israeli media, as he defended his government’s latest military push into Gaza City.
The planned offensive, he said, is aimed at defeating Hamas, but it has drawn condemnation from the United Nations, aid agencies and some of Israel’s closest allies.
Netanyahu also rejected accusations that Israel had pursued a starvation policy, insisting: ‘There is no starvation. There hasn’t been starvation. There was a shortage. And certainly, there was no policy of starvation.
‘If we had wanted starvation, if that had been our policy, 2 million Gazans wouldn’t be living today after 20 months.’
He also challenged claims that humanitarian aid had been fully cut off. At the press conference, he said: ‘We never said we were stopping all entry of humanitarian aid.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed accusations that his country is committing genocide or deliberately starving civilians in Gaza .
Netanyahu has repeatedly denied claims that his forces are committing genocide in the Strip and has said that Israel tries to avoid civillians who are put in harm’s way by Hamas
On Sunday, he told reporters: ‘If we had wanted to commit genocide, it would have taken exactly one afternoon
‘What we said was that, alongside halting the trucks that Hamas was seizing — taking the vast majority of their contents for itself, then selling the leftovers at extortionate prices to the Palestinian population… we would stop this.’ .
However, in March this year, Israel announced that all humanitarian aid into Gaza had been sealed
This came with a demand for Hamas to agree to a US plan for a ceasefire extension.
At the time, he said the decision was a way to prevent Hamas from seizing and profiting from aid shipments. Some supplies were eventually allowed into the area after weeks of pressure.
In July, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it would open humanitarian corridors to let in aid convoys into Gaza to deliver food and medicine.
It also said there would be a ‘local tactical pause in military activity’ for humanitarian purposes.
Last week, it was reported that the prime minister and the US president Donald Trump, had a heated phone call after Netanyahu denied that there was widespread starvation in Gaza.
According to people familiar with the conversation, Trump cut him off and shouted at him. He also told him his aids had presented evidence that many children were starving.
Netanyahu has denied that Israel had a starvation policy in Gaza and insists ‘there hasn’t been starvation’
An Israeli airstrike killed Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, 28, and several of his colleagues outside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
The Israel Defence Forces said al-Sharif was a Hamas operative who ‘posed as a journalist’, accusing him of running a ‘terrorist cell’
However, Netanyahu’s office denied the reports and said it was ‘fake news’.
Netanyahu’s denial of genocide came just hours after an Israeli airstrike killed Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, 28, and several of his colleagues outside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
The network said the journalists were in a tent set up for media crews when it was hit.
The Israel Defence Forces said al-Sharif was a Hamas operative who ‘posed as a journalist’, accusing him of running a ‘terrorist cell’ involved in rocket attacks, allegations that remain unverified and have been rejected by Al Jazeera.
Local journalists who knew him say that earlier in his journalism career, he had worked with a communications office run by Hamas.
Press freedom groups and the UN human rights agency condemned the strike, calling it a possible grave breach of international humanitarian law.
On Monday, several Gazans gathered to pay their respects to Sharif and his four colleagues who also died in the attack.
Media freedom groups and international organisations condemned the killing.
Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to take control of the remaining parts of Gaza, including large sections of Gaza City and Al-Mawasi
Netanyahu’s plans to occupy the entire Strip has come with condemnation from some of his closest allies
Netanyahu has contstantly denied reports that there is widespread starvation and Gaza and only admits there have been shortages
A posthumous message written by the journalist in the eventuality of his death said he had been silenced and urged people ‘not to forget Gaza’.
Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to take control of the remaining parts of Gaza, including large sections of Gaza City and Al-Mawasi, an area designated by Israel as a safe zone but now crammed with displaced Palestinians.
The plan has triggered further criticism abroad, with Germany suspending some arms exports to Israel and Australia joining other Western nations in recognising a Palestinian state.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 61,499 people have been killed in the territory since Israel’s campaign began, figures the United Nations deems credible.
Hamas’s October 2023 assault on Israel left 1,219 people dead, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
