Knesset Debate Reveals Not Everyone Thinks Starving Gazan Children Is a Bad Thing

Israel’s Knesset held a first-of-its-kind discussion on the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. During a meeting last Thursday, Dr. Sharon Shaul from NATAN, an Israeli-based organization that provides humanitarian aid around the world, made a seemingly trivial remark: “I think that even everyone sitting around this table doesn’t want a suffering child to be unable to receive painkillers or minimal medical treatment.”

Israeli lawmaker Amit Halevi (Likud) angrily interrupted her: “I’m not sure you’re speaking for us when you say we want to treat every child and every woman. I hope you don’t stand behind that statement either. When fighting a group like this, the distinctions that exist in a normal world don’t exist.”

Shaul didn’t back down: “I hope that you too don’t want a 4-year-old whose arm has been amputated to go without painkillers. I hope you have that empathy too.” Lawmaker Limor Son Har-Melech (Religious Zionism) couldn’t hold back: “The only treatment needed here is for you,” she said, pointing at Shaul. Another participant remarked: “You are the sickest doctor I’ve ever seen.”

The discussion was convened by MK Moshe Tur-Paz (Yesh Atid) as part of a subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee dealing with public diplomacy and foreign relations. The issue at hand was not hunger in and of itself, but the diplomatic and public relations damage it might cause.

“To my understanding, the State of Israel does not intend to use hunger as a tool. I believe that even if there are no uninvolved civilians, in the Jewish morality I know, there is no permission to starve non-combatants, and I am under the impression that the Israeli government is not heading toward starving Gaza,” Tur-Paz said after the meeting.

But those who set the tone in the discussion were Halevi and Son Har-Melech. Contrary to Dr. Shaul’s hope, many around the table indeed thought that the starvation and torment of Gazan children is not only legitimate but even desirable.

Shifra Tzur Aryeh, who identified herself as a resident of the Gaza envelope, scolded the MKs for even holding the discussion. “Who are you pitying?” she shouted, repeating the false claim about the “disembowelment” of pregnant women during the October 7 attack as a reason why Gazans don’t deserve sympathy.

Another participant was Rashel Twito, a founder of Tzav 9, an organization that worked to block aid trucks during the first year of the war and whose activities sometimes led to the assault of drivers and the destruction of humanitarian supplies. Twito attributed the first hostage deal to Tzav 9’s actions – even though their activity began two months after that deal in 2023 and ended months before the second release deal in early 2025.

“We stood our ground and succeeded,” she said. “Every day we blocked trucks, and thanks to this action, we got the first wave and hostages returned. I’m not a sadist, but I know my enemy. In the end, there was a siege here, and it helped return hostages. It proved successful. I don’t care about international law or the UN – this is the only serious bargaining  chip that works.”

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