JERUSALEM / ANKARA

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich vowed Monday to prevent the entry of “a grain of wheat” into the blockaded Gaza Strip.

“Not even a grain of wheat will enter Gaza,” Smotrich said in statements carried by the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth.

Since March 2, Israel has shut down Gaza's border crossings, halting the flow of humanitarian, relief, and medical aid into the territory, leading to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, according to local government and human rights reports.

The blockade was part of a renewed assault on Gaza that has killed nearly 1,400 people and injured over 3,400 others since March 18, despite a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.

Smotrich said that he still prioritizes defeating the Palestinian group Hamas over the return of Israeli captives from Gaza.

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to escalate attacks on Gaza amid efforts to implement US President Donald Trump's plan to displace Palestinians from the enclave.

More than 50,700 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.