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December 2, 2024 | 01:55 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Former Defense Minister Israel Moshe Yaalon accuses Israel of war crimes and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip. Yaalon's statement has sparked a strong reprimand from the Israeli government.
Moshe Yaalon is a former hardline general. As reported by Reuters, he told Israeli media that the hardline right-wing group in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet wants to expel Palestinians from northern Gaza. Israel wants to rebuild Jewish settlements there.
"I am forced to warn about what is happening there and what is being hidden from us," Yaalon told Israel's public broadcaster, Kan, on Sunday, December 1, 2024. "In the end, war crimes are being committed."
Yaalon is a former chief of staff of the army who served as defense minister under Netanyahu from 2013-2016. He has been a harsh critic of Netanyahu since then.
Netanyahu's Likud Party accused him of spreading slander. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, the leader of a small right-wing party, said Yaalon's accusations were false.
"Everything Israel does complies with international law, and it is regrettable that former minister Ya'alon does not realize the damage he has done and withdraw his statement," Sa'ar said at a conference organized by the newspaper Israel Today.
Last month, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense chief Yoav Gallant. Both are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict.
Netanyahu and Gallant both deny the allegations. In a separate interview with Democrat TV on Saturday, Yaalon warned that Israel is at a crossroads. "The government wants to conquer, annex, carry out ethnic cleansing," Yaalon said.
The ongoing conflict has made humanitarian aid difficult to enter Gaza. The head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said they had to halt aid shipments because armed groups in Gaza were seizing food from truck convoys. "This difficult decision comes at a time when hunger is worsening," said Philippe Lazzarini of UNRWA in a Al Jazeera post on Monday, December 2, 2024.
The halt in aid shipments through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing occurred nearly two weeks after a major shipment was hijacked on the same route. Lazzarini said Israel should protect aid workers and supplies. Humanitarian operations have become impossible due to Israeli restrictions.
"Yesterday, we tried to bring in some food trucks on the same route. They were all taken," he said. He warned that hunger is worsening in Gaza.
Lazzarini said humanitarian operations are impossible in Gaza due to the ongoing blockade. On Thursday, UNRWA sent 91 aid trucks to northern Gaza between October 6 and November 25. 82 were rejected and 9 were obstructed.
Israel is accused of using hunger as a weapon of war by limiting food supplies, medicines, and other essential items to Gaza since the October conflict. Over 44,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's relentless bombing since then.
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