Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich vowed on April 7 that he will continue the total blockade of aid entering the Gaza Strip, reported Middle East Eye. “Not even a grain of wheat will enter Gaza,” he said, speaking at Israeli newspaper’s Yedioth Ahronoth’s People of Israel Conference.
Middle East Eye notes that Smotrich’s statement came after Yedioth Ahronoth had reported that Israel was considering the reopening of some aid flow into Gaza. He insisted on prioritizing the complete defeat of Hamas over the release of Israeli captives, who were being gradually freed during the ceasefire. “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.
