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.