GENEVA

The UN human rights chief condemned recent statements by Israel’s finance minister suggesting letting civilians in Gaza starve to death, a spokesperson said Friday. 

"The high commissioner (Volker Turk) is shocked and appalled by the words of (Israeli) minister, according to whom, letting two million Palestinians in Gaza starve to death could be justified and moral in order to free hostages," Jeremy Laurence told a UN briefing in Geneva.

"He condemns these words in the strongest terms, which also incite hatred against innocent civilians," Laurence said, noting that the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime.

"The collective punishment of the Palestinian population is also a war crime," he said and warned: "This direct and public statement risks inciting other atrocity crimes."

Urging cessation of such statements by public officials, he also reiterated the office's call for an immediate cease-fire, as well as the release of all hostages and allowance of humanitarian aid flow into Gaza.

Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said Monday that letting 2 million people in Gaza die from hunger might be “justified and moral.”

Since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas cross-border incursion, Israel has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians in the besieged enclave and displaced most of its 2.3 population, while also generating a mass famine and spread of disease. It is accused of genocide over its actions at the International Court of Justice.