Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has declared that Israel is committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
In an opinion piece for Haaretz, Olmert, Israel's 12th prime minister, accused the war on Gaza of being a "political war", with Israel "currently waging a war without purpose, without goals or clear planning and with no chances of success".
"Yes, Israel is committing war crimes," the former premier wrote.
"The government sends our soldiers – and the military obeys – to wander around Gaza City, Jabalya and Khan Yunis neighborhoods in an illegitimate military operation."
"This is now a private political war. Its immediate result is the transformation of Gaza into a humanitarian disaster area."
Olmert says the war should have ended in 2024, but "continued without justification, without any clear goal and with no political vision for the future of Gaza and the Middle East in general", admitting to refusing to accept what was truly happening in Gaza before.
"What we are doing in Gaza now is a war of devastation: indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing of civilians," Olmert asserts.
"We're not doing this due to loss of control in any specific sector, not due to some disproportionate outburst by some soldiers in some unit. Rather, it's the result of government policy – knowingly, evilly, maliciously, irresponsibly dictated."
The politician notes Israel "starving out Gaza", saying Israel has been denying food, medicine and basic living to people of Gaza, adding that Netanyahu's "lackeys" have openly admitted to wanting to exterminate the two million Gazans.
Olmert also critiqued the Israeli government, calling it "unworthy", accusing the administration of not wishing to do what is best for the country and its citizens.
"It's [Israeli government] driven by some crazed enthusiasm to pit brother against brother, mother against children, soldiers against soldiers, punks and thugs against [captives] and their families," Olmert wrote.
"It takes sadistic, sick, irresponsible and merry joy in this, while of course failing to bring back the [captives. And while all this mess is going on, we keep on slaughtering Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, too."
"It is time to halt, before we are all banished from the family of nations and are summoned to the International Criminal Court for war crimes, with no good defense."
Speaking to CNN on Wednesday, Olmert also said: "Enough is enough. It's time to end the war."
At the same time, in an interview with the BBC on 21 May, Olmert described Israel's war as "a war without a purpose – a war without a chance of achieving anything that can save the lives of the [captives]".
Olmert served the state from 2006 to 2009 in the Likud Party, the same party as Israel's current leader, Benjamin Netanyahu.
During a truce between Hamas and Israel in 2006, Olmert launched a series of attacks in the Gaza Strip the following year in May, claiming to be targeting Hamas positions, killing several Palestinians until a ceasefire was announced in June 2008.
Olmert classified the Gaza Strip as a "hostile territory", where the Israeli army would intensify "military and anti-terrorist operations".
Under the Olmert administration, the Israeli army shelled a United Nations compound in Gaza City in 2009, claiming soldiers were attacked from there.
The former prime minister was also backed by the Bush administration in its policy of inflicting collective punishment in the Gaza Strip.
Olmert is not the only Israeli official to go against the current Israeli government's viewpoint.
Yair Golan, the former deputy chief of staff of the Israeli army, was heckled and booed by pro-Israeli protesters during his speech at a conference on Tuesday, accused of being a "traitor" after saying Israel was making a "hobby" of killing babies in Gaza, which he later retracted.
Speaking to Kan's national broadcaster, that "a sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not give itself the aim of expelling populations".
Both officials have faced backlash from their Israeli counterparts.
Gideon Sa'ar, Israel's foreign minister, accused Olmert and Golan of "taking an active part in a diplomatic campaign, in a propaganda war and in legal warfare against the state of Israel and the IDF".
Education Minister Yoav Kisch said that Olmert and Golan had joined a "radical leftist chorus defaming Israel in the international arena".