Former Israeli defense minister says Israel committing ‘war crimes’ in Gaza

NEW YORK: A former Israeli defence minister has accused Israel of committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing in besieged Gaza, The New York Times reported, noting that it was a rare critique from a member of the security establishment at a time of war.

The comments by Moshe Yaalon, the ex-defence minister, came amid mounting international criticism of the Israeli military’s deadly attacks in Gaza, but allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately denied his charges

Yaalon served as the Israeli military’s chief of staff during the second ‘intifada’ and as Netanyahu’s defence minister during the 2014 Israeli war in Gaza, the longest conflict between Israel and Hamas before the current war. But he broke with Netanyahu in 2016 and has since become a critic of the Israeli leader.

At an event, Yaalon denounced Netanyahu’s government for its aggression in Gaza.

“The path they’re dragging us down is to occupy, annex and ethnically cleanse, look at the northern strip,” Yaalon said. He also said Israel was being pulled in the direction of building settlements in Gaza, a notion that is supported by far-right politicians in Netanyahu’s government.

When the interviewer at the event asked Yaalon to clarify whether he thought Israel was on the way to carrying out ethnic cleansing, he responded: “Why on the way? What’s happening there? What’s happening there?”

“There’s no Beit Lahia. There’s no Beit Hanoun. They’re now operating in Jabaliya. They’re basically cleaning the territory of Arabs,” he said, referring to towns and cities in northern Gaza where a renewed Israeli offensive has caused extensive damage in recent months. Tens of thousands of Palestinians, mostly women and children,  have been killed in Gaza since Oct 7, 2023. the war began in response to the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel in October 2023.

Yaalon doubled down on his accusations on Sunday, saying on public radio that Netanyahu’s government was exposing Israeli commanders to lawsuits at the International Criminal Court and was putting their lives at risk.

“I’m speaking in the name of IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) commanders who are operating in the northern strip,” Yaalon told the Reshet Bet radio station. “They reached out to me expressing fear about what’s happening there.”

He later said, in an apparent reference to the government: “At the end of the day, they’re perpetrating war crimes”.

The Israeli military declined to comment on Mr. Yaalon’s accusations, which came ten days after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for  Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his former defence minister for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, the Times said in a dispatch. APP