Former Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon accuses Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza

A former Israeli defense minister has accused Israel of committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip, a rare critique from a member of the security establishment at a time of war.

The comments by Moshe Yaalon -- first on Saturday, and then multiple times on Sunday, including in an interview with one of Israel's biggest television channels -- came amid mounting criticism of the Israeli military's conduct in Gaza. They were swiftly denied and condemned by allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, saying that they would hurt the country and help its enemies.

Yaalon served as the Israeli military's chief of staff during the second intifada and as Netanyahu's defense minister during the 2014 war in Gaza, the longest conflict between Israel and Hamas before the current war. But he broke with Netanyahu in 2016 and has since become a critic of the Israeli leader.

At an event Saturday, Yaalon denounced Netanyahu's government for its actions in Gaza.

"The path they're dragging us down is to occupy, annex and ethnically cleanse -- look at the northern strip," he said. He also said Israel was being pulled in the direction of building settlements in Gaza, a notion that is supported by far-right politicians in Netanyahu's government.

When the interviewer at the event asked Yaalon to clarify whether he thought Israel was on the way to carrying out ethnic cleansing, he responded: "Why on the way? What's happening there? What's happening there?"

"There's no Beit Lahia. There's no Beit Hanoun. They're now operating in Jabalia. They're basically cleaning the territory of Arabs," he said, referring to towns and cities in northern Gaza where a renewed Israeli offensive against the militant group Hamas has caused extensive damage in recent months. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began in response to the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel in October 2023.

Yaalon doubled down on his accusations Sunday, saying on public radio that Netanyahu's government was exposing Israeli commanders to lawsuits at the International Criminal Court and was putting their lives at risk.

"I'm speaking in the name of IDF commanders who are operating in the northern strip," Yaalon told the Reshet Bet radio station, referring to the Israel Defense Forces. "They reached out to me expressing fear about what's happening there."

He later said, in an apparent reference to the government: "At the end of the day, they're perpetrating war crimes" -- while making clear that his issue was not with the soldiers themselves.

In another interview, broadcast Sunday night, he stood behind his remarks yet again and even said he no longer says Israel has the most moral army in the world, a claim often promulgated by defenders of the country.

"It's hard for me to say this," he told Israeli broadcaster Channel 12, adding that Israel's political leadership was "corrupting the military." He said the military was ordering the evacuation of towns, believing the move was for operational reasons. But, he suggested, some of Israel's political leaders actually intend to clear the area for settlements.

The Israeli military declined to comment on Yaalon's accusations, which came 10 days after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his former defense minister, for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza.

Netanyahu's office has rejected the accusations against the men in the warrants, calling them "absurd and false" and accusing the court of being motivated by antisemitism.

Yaalon's comments were condemned by Netanyahu's Likud party, of which Yaalon is a former member.

"Yaalon already lost his way a long time ago," the party said in a statement. "His defamatory words are a prize for the International Criminal Court and the haters of Israel camp. Israel is fighting back against a murderous terrorist group that carried out mass slaughter."

Gallant said Sunday that Yaalon's statements were "a lie that aids our enemy and harms Israel."

The Israeli military "acted according to the highest standards that can be applied in the complex and difficult war that was imposed on us," Gallant said in a post on social media. "The instructions and commands were always given in accordance with the law."

Israel's communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, said Yaalon "crossed all the red lines." while Tally Gotliv, a firebrand Likud lawmaker, called him "worse than our biggest enemies."

Israel has called on Palestinians from the northernmost reaches of Gaza to evacuate on several occasions since the war began last fall, including in the first week of the conflict and again in October. Tens of thousands of people have heeded those warnings and fled, but many are believed to have remained in the area, either because they cannot or do not want to leave.

Yaalon's statements were striking because they come at a time in which Israelis from across the political spectrum have united in their opposition to the ICC's issuing of the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.

Asked if the warrant for Netanyahu was justified in the Sunday night interview, Yaalon said he didn't want to be the judge of that, but he did not denounce it. He added, "I think, on a moral level, that a few things happened here that aren't good from our perspective."

They were also unusual because Israelis and their leaders -- like people in many countries -- tend to rally around the troops during a time of war. Criticism by former Israeli officials of the war has tended to focus on strategy or whether to agree a cease-fire with Hamas, not the military's conduct veering into potential war crimes.

Of four former senior Israeli security officials contacted by The New York Times on Sunday, only one agreed to comment.

Ami Ayalon, the former director of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency who has criticized Netanyahu in the past, said he wasn't sure whether Israel's actions in Gaza met the legal definition of "ethnic cleansing." But he described the Israeli government's policy directives for the military as "immoral and unjust," saying they could expose commanders and soldiers to prosecution by the International Criminal Court.

In recent months, aid organizations and world leaders, including President Joe Biden, have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe in North Gaza. During that time, Israel has allowed little humanitarian aid to enter. Last month, Israel banned imports of commercial goods, saying that Hamas was benefiting from their sale. North Gaza is the northernmost of Gaza's five governorates.

Israeli officials have said that Palestinians from North Gaza will be able to return to their homes after the war. Netanyahu has dismissed the idea of building settlements in Gaza, but hard-line members of his right-wing coalition have advocated for it.

Some Israelis worry that Netanyahu's indecision about plans for post-war Gaza could result in a long-term occupation of the enclave, leaving open the possibility for right-wing members of the coalition to advance their ambitions to build settlements.

Some Palestinians from Gaza also took note of Yaalon's comments.

Akram Atallah, a Palestinian columnist originally from Jabalia, said he considered Yaalon's remarks to be "extremely important."

"This remark strengthens the Palestinian narrative of what is happening in Gaza," he said. "And it isn't coming from an Arab official or a sympathetic member of the international community. It's coming from someone who was a general at the top of the Israeli system."