Israeli TV Channel 10 reported on Friday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports a proposal to expel families of Palestinian fighters in West Bank to the Gaza Strip. According to the Sawa news website, the programme claimed that the idea has been proposed by Israel’s Defence Minister, Moshe Ya’alon, as a response to the attacks carried out by the fighters as they try to resist the military occupation of their land.
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During a visit to the illegal Israeli settlement block of Gosh Etzion in the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu and Ya’alon asked military field commanders to study the viability of such a proposal. Expulsion would be employed in addition to the demolition of family homes, it is believed.
The television report noted that several government legal advisors object to the proposed expulsions because collective punishment is prohibited by international law. A number of Israeli security officials also object, just as they oppose house demolitions, not only because it constitutes collective punishment but also because it is largely ineffective as a deterrent.
Read: Israel might double arrests and increase expulsions to Gaza