Israel: MP claims to want to “cleanse” Gaza

Amit Halevi, a member of the ruling Likud party in Israel, has claimed he wants to “cleanse” the Gaza Strip.

According to Middle East Eye on April 1st, Halevi told Radio 103FM in Israel that “We want to occupy the territory (Gaza) to cleanse it of the enemy – otherwise, it will kill your children and kidnap your grandchildren again.”

Halevi said that there was no chance of ending Israel’s attacks on Gaza any time soon.

His admission comes in the wake of the United Nations scaling back their staff in the Gaza Strip as a result of repeated Israeli attacks putting their lives at risk.

A temporary ceasefire had been signed between Israel and Hamas on January 19th. However, less than two months later on March 18th, the ceasefire collapsed.

Since the collapse of the ceasefire, 921 Palestinians have been killed according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Israel has refused to move forward and action the second stage of the ceasefire agreement which would see Hamas release all further hostages in return for Israel stopping strikes.

However, as Halevi’s words attest, that will not be happening in the near future.

Instead, Israel has vowed to apply maximum military pressure on Hamas in order to secure the release of all remaining hostages rather than engage in diplomacy.

Hamas has maintained that they wish for both sides to adhere to the original three-phase ceasefire in order to end the war.

When pressed on whether the Palestinian population of Gaza would be granted Israeli citizenship once the strip is “cleansed”, Halevi said: “We want to distinguish between the status of the territory and control over it, and the status of the residents, which is definitely something that deserves to be defined.”

Despite his words, Israel has closed its borders to Palestinians since March 2nd and has prevented the entry of humanitarian aid, food and goods to Gaza – forcing famine on the civilian population.

Middle East Eye, Maghrebi