Olmert, a former member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party, served as Israel's prime minister from 2006 to 2009 and led a bloody war against Lebanon in his first year in office.
His remarks come as Israel continues its 20-month-old genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed over 53,977 people and wounded more than 120,000, primarily women and children, and destroyed most homes and infrastructure in the strip.
In his opinion piece, Olmert underscored that Israel’s approach—marked by disproportionate force and disregard for civilian lives—undermines its claims to "moral high ground."
“It is undeniable that Israel has been committing acts that could be classified as war crimes,” he said.
“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 added.
He stated 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,” Olmert wrote. “This is now a private political war. Its immediate result is the transformation of Gaza into a humanitarian disaster area.”
“What we are doing in Gaza now is a war of devastation: indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing of civilians. It’s the result of government policy – knowingly, evilly, maliciously, irresponsibly dictated,” he concluded.
Olmert’s op-ed comes just days after Israel rejected a ceasefire proposal brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States—a 70-day truce in the Gaza Strip coupled with the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 10 surviving Israeli captives—despite Hamas agreeing to the terms.
Additionally, on Monday, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation reported that the government authorised mobilising up to 450,000 reserve soldiers, signalling a significant escalation in military preparations.
Last week, in an interview with the BBC, Olmert described the war on Gaza as one “without a purpose – a war without a chance of achieving anything that can save the lives of the hostages.” His stark assessment ignited fierce backlash from Israel’s ultra-right parties.
In response, Israeli social equality minister, May Golan, accused Olmert of “spitting in the face” of Israeli soldiers.
“To be exact, there are innocents in Gaza – 58 of them,” she said, referring to the Israeli hostages held captive in the territory.
Another right-wing Israeli politician, Moshe Feiglin, a former member of the Knesset, told TV Channel 14: “Every child in Gaza is the enemy. We need to occupy Gaza and settle it, and not a single Gazan child will be left there. There is no other victory.”
Olmert’s critique echoed a similar message from Yair Golan, leader of the liberal Democrats party and former deputy chief of staff of the Israeli occupation army.
Speaking to Israel Radio, Golan warned that Israel risks becoming a pariah state akin to apartheid-era South Africa if it continues on its current path.
“A sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not set itself the aim of expelling populations,” he stated.
Olmert's and other voices in Israel criticising the Gaza war highlight a growing fracture within Israeli society.
Their disagreements amid mounting international condemnation of Israel's war on Gaza and its deadly three-month-long blockade of the Strip, which threatens to isolate Tel Aviv on the world stage.
They expose a society split between sycophantic demands for escalating what is already the most brutal genocide in living history at any cost and those urging some restraint to salvage the internationally tarnished image of Israel.
On Tuesday, Johann Wadephul, the foreign minister of Germany, a staunch supporter of the Israeli war on Gaza and one of its top arms suppliers, threatened unspecified measures against Israel, saying Berlin would not export weapons used to violate humanitarian law.
A day earlier, Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who had promised to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu despite an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, issued Berlin's most substantial criticism yet of Israel’s actions in Gaza.
"Honestly speaking, I no longer understand what the Israeli army is now doing in the Gaza Strip, with what goal," he told public broadcaster WDR.
"The way in which the civilian population has been affected, as has been increasingly the case in recent days, can no longer be justified by a fight against Hamas."
The German shift comes as the European Union reviews its Israel policy, with Britain, France, and Canada also threatening “concrete actions” over Gaza.
In tandem, Sweden will also summon the Israeli ambassador to protest against Israel's refusal to allow aid into Gaza freely, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Monday.
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