Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has called repeated warnings of the risk of famine in Gaza “a lie” after his government suspended aid deliveries over a disagreement on the extension of the ceasefire in the Palestinian territory, AFP reports.

“With regards to this starvation [claim], that was a lie during all this war. That was a lie,” Saar said at a press conference in Jerusalem, in response to a question about what would happen if people began to starve.