Israel Ex-PM says country is committing war crimes

The former prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, has said Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza, and that "thousands of innocent Palestinians are being killed, as well as many Israeli soldiers".

- Lorenzo Tondo

Olmert, who was the 12th prime minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, wrote in an opinion piece for the Israeli newspaper and website Haaretz that "the government of Israel is currently waging a war without purpose, without goals or clear planning and with no chances of success".

He added: "Never since its establishment has the state of Israel waged such a war... The criminal gang headed by Benjamin Netanyahu has set a precedent without equal in Israel's history in this area, too."

Olmert, a former member of Likud, the same party as Netanyahu, wrote that the "pointless victims among the Palestinian population" were reaching "monstrous proportions" in recent weeks.

"Recent operations in Gaza have nothing to do with legitimate war goals," he wrote. "This is now a private political war. Its immediate result is the transformation of Gaza into a humanitarian disaster area."

Olmert said he had often asserted that Israel was not committing war crimes in Gaza and claimed with conviction that "in no case did a government official give orders to hit Gazan civilians indiscriminately".