ISRAEL is "sending soldiers to commit war crimes in Gaza", a former army chief has said.
Moshe Yaalon, the Israeli military's former chief of staff, said Israel was carrying out a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" in Gaza.
It comes as charity Oxfam warned that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza was at an "all-time low" as a result of Israel's blockade of aid, which has also seen the World Central Kitchen forced to shut its community soup kitchens.
In an interview with Israeli outlet Ynet on Thursday, he said: "Call it ethnic cleansing, call it transfer, call it deportation - it’s a war crime."
Yaalon was describing plans led by far-right Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir to capture and occupy the entire Gaza Strip and evacuate its Palestinian population.
He continued: "Smotrich and Ben Gvir do not want to replace Hamas; they want Israeli military rule and Israeli civilian administration.
"Let them say it very clearly: They are going to occupy Gaza and settle it with Jews after it has been ethnically cleansed. Let them say it."
Yaalon said that if Smotrich and Ben Gvir's plan to "cleanse the entire population of Gaza" had been brought before the Israeli cabinet, then those cabinet ministers were "an accomplice to a war crime".
He also accused Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prolonging Israel's war on Gaza to ensure his political survival.
"You send the soldiers to commit war crimes, and then you say that the [military] will stay there forever… If the cabinet decided this, then you, Netanyahu, say that and don’t hide behind your chief of staff," he said.
"The chief of staff is a commander within the army. Netanyahu hides behind him and then blames everyone else. He has not yet taken responsibility for October 7, which is first and foremost his responsibility.
“Everything here is about stalling for time and holding on to this war, because the end of the war is the end of the term."
When asked about Netanyahu's claim that he sleeps with a "clear conscience", Yaalon told Ynet: "Netanyahu abandoned them… When did we have a war like this?
"Who is responsible for that? Do you sleep with a clear conscience?
"A war that has been going on for 19 months, the longest in our history, and what interests him is holding on to power. There is no other consideration, no security interest."
Yaalon, who also served as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's defence minister between 2013 and 2016, previously said that there was no chance of a Palestinian state being established in this century.
In December, Yaalon said that Israeli forces are committing “ethnic cleansing” and “war crimes” in northern Gaza, adding they could face lawsuits at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
He added: “War crimes are being committed. Never has a democratic state faced trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for such actions.”
Yaalon resigned from Netanyahu's Likud party, and his role as defence minister, in 2016 before joining the centre-right Blue and White alliance.
