Senior Israeli official says all Palestinian adults in Gaza ‘should be eliminated’

The deputy speaker of the Israeli parliament has called for the separation of children from their mothers and the killing of adults in Gaza.

During an interview with Kol BaRama radio, Nissim Vaturi called Palestinians “scoundrels” and “subhumans”, adding that this is a group of people that cannot be accepted.

“Who is innocent in Gaza? Civilians went out and slaughtered people in cold blood,” Vaturi said on Kol BaRama radio.

“They are outcasts and no one in the world wants them,” he said, adding that Israel needs to “separate the children and women and kill the adults in Gaza, we are being too considerate.

“The international community understands that the residents of Gaza are not welcome anywhere, and is pushing them towards Israel.”

The deputy speaker, who belongs to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, also said that the occupied West Bank city of Jenin will soon turn into Gaza, saying that Palestinians released as part of the ceasefire deal should be put there “so that they can be eliminated later”.

“Erase Jenin. Don’t start looking for the terrorists – if there’s a terrorist in the house, take him down, tell the women and children to get out,” he added. 

These comments come after Israel delayed the release of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, which was set to take place on Saturday as part of the Gaza truce agreement with Hamas.

Israel was meant to free 602 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the six Israeli captives released last week. Hamas responded by announcing that it will suspend negotiations unless the prisoners are released as promised.

Mahmoud Mardawi, a Hamas official, urged mediators to pressure Israel to uphold the ceasefire agreement. 

Genocidal campaign 

The violent rhetoric issued by top Israeli leaders like Vaturi has been used as evidence of Israel’s genocidal intent in its war on Gaza, which has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians and utterly devastated the enclave.

Lawyers for South Africa used their statements at the International Court of Justice in a case accusing Israel of waging genocide in Gaza. In a preliminary judgement, the world’s highest court said South Africa’s accusation was plausible.

Meanwhile, a recent report by a United Nations special committee in November accused Israel of policies and practices in Gaza that may amount to a “possibility of genocide”.

“The policies and practices of Israel during the reporting period are consistent with the characteristics of genocide,” the report states, urging immediate steps to be taken to protect civilian lives.

The special committee also concluded that Israel is committing several violations of international law, and not just in Gaza.

Amnesty International also established in a report released in December that Israel has the intent to destroy Palestinians, a necessary threshold that led the world’s leading human rights group to conclude that Israel is guilty of genocide.

“Sufficient evidence exists to find that Israel’s purpose and goal in Gaza is the destruction of Palestinians in Gaza, and there is no reasonable alternative explanation,” it said.

Amnesty explained that Israel’s military objectives “are insufficient to explain the scale and scope of Israel’s ongoing unlawful actions. Only an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza does so”.