Former Defense Minister Accuses Israel of Committing War Crimes in Gaza

A former Israeli protection minister has accused Israel of committing struggle crimes and ethnic cleaning within the Gaza Strip, a uncommon critique from a member of the safety institution at a time of struggle.

The feedback by Moshe Yaalon got here amid mounting criticism of the Israeli army’s conduct in Gaza. They had been swiftly denied and condemned by allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, saying that they’d damage the nation and assist its enemies.

Mr. Yaalon served because the Israeli army’s chief of employees in the course of the second intifada and as Mr. Netanyahu’s protection minister in the course of the 2014 struggle in Gaza, the longest battle between Israel and Hamas earlier than the present struggle. But he broke with Mr. Netanyahu in 2016 and has since turn out to be a critic of the Israeli chief.

At an occasion on Saturday, Mr. Yaalon denounced Mr. Netanyahu’s authorities for its actions in Gaza.

“The path they’re dragging us down is to occupy, annex, and ethnically cleanse — take a look at the northern strip,” he stated. He additionally stated Israel was being pulled within the path of constructing settlements in Gaza, a notion that’s supported by far-right politicians in Mr. Netanyahu’s authorities.

When the interviewer on the occasion requested Mr. Yaalon to make clear whether or not he thought Israel was on the best way to finishing up ethnic cleaning, he responded: “Why on the best way? What’s occurring there? What’s occurring there?”

“There’s no Beit Lahia. There’s no Beit Hanoun. They’re now working in Jabaliya. They’re mainly cleansing the territory of Arabs,” he stated, referring to cities and cities in northern Gaza the place a renewed Israeli offensive towards the militant group Hamas has prompted in depth harm in current months. Tens of hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in Gaza because the struggle started in response to the lethal Hamas-led assault on Israel in October 2023.