Netanyahu says ‘if we wanted to commit genocide it would have taken exactly one afternoon’

He made the claim at a press conference last Sunday

Netanyahu's government has been subject to global condemnation from human rights groups — and a series of influential nations including the UK —for their refusal to allow humanitarian aid to enter the 141 square mile strip.

Latest figures estimate that at least 61,499 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel's military operation began 22 months ago, in response to the October 2023 Hamas terrorist attack.

Last year, the International Court of Justice concluded there was "plausible" evidence that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Israel called that case "wholly unfounded."

At a press conference on Sunday (August 10), Bejamin Netanyahu responded to accusations that Israel is pursuing a policy of deliberate starvation and genocide in Gaza.

Netanyahu said: "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, two million Gazans wouldn't be living today after 20 months.

“If we had wanted to commit genocide, it would have taken exactly one afternoon.”

Humanitarian organisations have said that the starvation in Gaza has become so serious that famine is now unfolding.

The Israeli leader also said: "'We never said we were stopping all entry of humanitarian aid.

"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."

In response to immense international pressure, in July the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) agreed to open "humanitarian corridors" to allow food and medicine to enter Gaza.

International groups and journalists continue to report dire conditions in Gaza.

The Israeli government claim that reports of starvation are unfounded, and claims Hamas — the proscribed terrorist group who were the last elected governors of Gaza before the current crisis began — are using accusations of famine for leverage in ceasefire talks.