diff --git a/package/base-files/files/etc/hotplug.d/iface/10-routes b/package/base-files/files/etc/hotplug.d/iface/10-routes
index f871ca5288..9d0ea1d5fe 100644
--- a/package/base-files/files/etc/hotplug.d/iface/10-routes
+++ b/package/base-files/files/etc/hotplug.d/iface/10-routes
@@ -23,6 +23,13 @@ add_route() {
 		config_get gateway "$interface" gateway
 	}
 
+	# handle "0.0.0.0" and "interface" as "no gateway given"
+	# to allow defining gateway-less routes while still
+	# keeping the possibility to have static routes with a
+	# proper gateway on interfaces with dynamic ips 
+	[ "$gateway" = "0.0.0.0" -o \
+		"$gateway" = "interface" ] && gateway=""
+
 	dest="${netmask:+-net "$target" netmask "$netmask"}"
 	dest="${dest:--host "$target"}"