'Ethnic cleansing' underway in northern Gaza: Former Israeli defense minister

JERUSALEM

Former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Saturday that Israel is carrying out “ethnic cleansing” in northern Gaza, accusing Premier Benjamin Netanyahu of leading the country to “ruin.”

Speaking in an interview with the Israeli channel Democratv, Ya’alon criticized the policies of Netanyahu's right-wing government in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, saying: “We are being dragged into occupation, annexation, ethnic cleansing—look at the north of the Strip—displacement, and Jewish settlement.”

Ya’alon, who served as the defense minister in 2013-2016, emphasized during the interview that the Israeli army’s actions in Gaza amount to "ethnic cleansing."

The interviewer interrupted, asking: “Did I hear you correctly? Ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza—do you think we are on that path?” Ya’alon responded: “Why ‘on the path’? What is happening there? Beit Lahia no longer exists, Beit Hanoun no longer exists, and now they are working on Jabalia. They (the Israeli army) are cleansing the area of Arabs.”

Since Oct. 5, Israel has launched a large-scale ground operation in northern Gaza to allegedly prevent Palestinian group Hamas from regrouping. Palestinians, however, accuse Israel of seeking to occupy the area and forcibly displace its residents.

Israel has launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas in October last year, killing over 44,300 people, most of them women and children, and injuring more than 105,000.

The second year of the genocide in Gaza has drawn growing international condemnation, with officials and institutions labeling the attacks and blocking of aid deliveries as a deliberate attempt to destroy a population.

On Nov. 21, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and 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 deadly war on Gaza.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi