Sa'ar's claim came during a joint press conference with new German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul in West Jerusalem, according to the official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation, two days after US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee announced the launch of US efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Huckabee confirmed that President Donald Trump has ordered his team to make every effort to provide relief to civilians. The US ambassador to Israel said, "This is a major effort, and it will require partnerships from governments, NGOs, and charities around the world. There are many partners who have already agreed to participate."
Sa'ar said that his country "fully supports Trump's plan to bring humanitarian aid into Gaza," a plan that achieves the same stated Israeli goal of an initiative recently promoted by Tel Aviv: "emptying northern Gaza of Palestinian civilians."
He added, "Israeli soldiers will not distribute the aid, but will work to ensure its transfer to Gaza."
For its part, Hamas said in a statement that "preventing thousands of trucks from entering Gaza, while children starve to death, is a complex war crime." The movement criticized the positions of Arab and Islamic countries regarding the ongoing war on the Strip and its starvation, stating that these positions "do not rise to the scale of the catastrophe caused by the war of extermination and the crime of starvation in Gaza."
In addition to the Israeli raids and military operations that have killed thousands of Palestinians in Gaza since the start of the war of extermination on October 7, 2023, Tel Aviv has closed all crossings into the Palestinian enclave to tighten the siege and starve its residents.
Since March 2, Israel has barred all relief, food, and medical aid from entering Gaza, on which the Strip's 2.4 million Palestinians are entirely dependent after the ongoing genocide rendered them impoverished, according to World Bank data.
On Monday, the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip recorded the deaths of 57 children due to malnutrition and health complications, amid a severe shortage of therapeutic milk, particularly for children with special needs.
This humanitarian crisis comes amidst the displacement of more than 90% of Gaza's Palestinians from their homes. Some have experienced this situation more than once, living in overcrowded shelters or out in the open without shelter, which has increased the spread of diseases and epidemics.
"I would say that the Israelis will participate in providing the necessary military security because this is a war zone, but they will not participate in distributing food, or even in bringing food into Gaza. Their role will remain on the periphery," Sa'ar said.
Meanwhile, the Civil Defense Authority in Gaza appealed on Sunday to international organizations to urgently intervene to bring oil, tires, and batteries into the Strip to repair its vehicles and continue its humanitarian work, amid the ongoing Israeli genocide.
"We are suffering from a severe shortage of oil, tires, and batteries for Civil Defense vehicles," the Civil Defense said in a statement. The statement called on "the International Civil Defense Organization and humanitarian organizations to urgently intervene to bring sufficient quantities of oil, tires, and batteries into the Gaza Strip to enable the repair of our vehicles and the continuation of our humanitarian intervention."
Last Thursday, the Civil Defense Department in the Gaza Strip announced that 75% of its vehicles were out of service due to a shortage of fuel.
In early March, the first phase of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Hamas and Israel concluded. The agreement, which went into effect on January 19, 2025, was brokered by Egypt and Qatar and supported by the United States, and the Palestinian movement adhered to it.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, evaded the start of the second phase and resumed the genocide in Gaza on March 18, responding to the demands of the most extreme faction within his right-wing government to advance his own political interests, according to Hebrew media.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a massive war of extermination against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including killing, destruction, starvation, and forced displacement, ignoring all international appeals and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt it. This US-backed war has left more than 172,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing.