Israel commits daily war crimes in Gaza, West Bank: Ex-premier
‘War crimes are not being committed in Gaza alone.
They are committed daily in the West Bank,’ Ehud Olmert says
Zein Khalil and Mohammad Sio |21.05.2025
JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL
Israel is committing daily war crimes in the Gaza
Strip and occupied West Bank, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on
Wednesday.
In an interview with Israel’s public broadcaster KAN,
Olmert condemned remarks by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
government, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who called for the
Palestinian village of Huwara in the northern West Bank to be burned.
“Anyone who calls for burning villages is calling for
genocide,” Olmert said.
“War crimes are not being committed in Gaza alone.
They are committed daily in the West Bank by Israelis, without intervention
from the police or the army – or they turn a blind eye,” he added.
Olmert, who served as prime minister from 2006 to
2009, also criticized Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, describing it as a
“political war without purpose” that would fail to bring home any hostages and
would only lead to further loss of Israeli soldiers’ lives.
Israel estimates 58 hostages are still held in Gaza,
including 20 believed to be alive. Around 250 were taken as hostages in the
Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas incursion. Many were released in a week-long truce in
November and during the 42-day first phase of the ceasefire that took effect in
January and later abandoned by Israel in March.
Meanwhile, more than 10,100 Palestinians remain in
Israeli prisons, facing torture, hunger and medical neglect, according to
Palestinian and Israeli human rights reports.
Olmert criticized the Israeli government for failing
to condemn extremist rhetoric, saying: “No one is shocked anymore when the head
of the Samaria Regional Council calls for genocide, or when ministers shout:
‘Leave no child alive in Gaza.’”
He held the government responsible for its military
policy, which, he said, is resulting in “a large number of innocent victims.”
Earlier Wednesday, Olmert told the BBC that thousands
of innocent Palestinians are being killed, and described Israel’s actions in
Gaza as “close to a war crime.”
His comments sparked backlash from Israeli Foreign
Minister Gideon Sa’ar who criticized Olmert along with opposition leader Yair
Golan of the Democratic Party.
Sa’ar posted on X, that “Yair Golan, Ehud Olmert, and
others are actively participating in the political campaign, narrative war, and
legal battle against the State of Israel and its army.”
On Tuesday, Golan denounced Israel’s actions in Gaza,
saying “a sane state does not wage war on civilians, does not kill children for
sport, and does not pursue a policy of displacement.”
He warned in an interview with KAN that Israel risks
becoming “a pariah state” unless it starts acting like a sane nation.
At least 969 Palestinians have been killed and more
than 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers in the
occupied West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, according
to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
In Gaza, Israel has killed more than 53,000
Palestinians, mostly women and children, since October 2023.
The International Court of Justice declared Israel's
decades-long occupation of Palestinian land illegal last July and demanded the
evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest
warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav
Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International
Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
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