Smotrich: Aid to Gaza is Necessary to Defeat Hamas

Translation by SadaNews - Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich confirmed on Wednesday evening that he is working to increase the war budget by allocating an additional 3 billion shekels to fund humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, if needed, especially as international aid continues.

Smotrich said in a video posted on his social media pages: "The Gazans do not concern me; what matters to me is victory and the complete destruction of Hamas," as translated by SadaNews. He added: "If we need to fund aid to the population ourselves and not continue to pump trucks for Hamas, we will do it."

He continued: "The whole world stands against us, Europe is pressuring us to stop, Hamas wants us to stop, and the left in Israel as well, but I am doing everything to ensure we continue until complete resolution, and total victory is not only possible, but necessary, and we will do it."

He reiterated: "I have been saying this since the beginning of the war, Hamas cannot only be defeated by tanks; aid must be cut off from them, from the population, and from the trucks, and they must be economically suffocated."

He went on: "If they had agreed to my proposals earlier, the war would have ended a long time ago, saving us tens of billions of shekels; the war is currently costing us 300 billion shekels."

He expressed hope that a decision would be made tomorrow to invade the Gaza Strip and militarily resolve the Hamas issue, stating: "Without civil and economic suffocation, there is no hope for victory, and this is the way to recover the captives and to achieve victory."